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RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 



The manuscript of the " Essay on Milk" was referred 
to the perusal of only two individuals, from whom the fol- 
lowing letters were received : 

From Charles A. Lee, M. D., late Professor of Materia Med- 
ica and of Medical Jurisprudence in the University of New- York. 

To R. M. Hartley. Esq. 

New. York, November 16th, 1841. 
Dear Sir: 

I have examined with much care the manuscript of your 
work on milk, and I feel it to be a duty, as it is a pleasure, to com- 
mend it to the public, as embodying a vast amount of practicalin- 
formation interesting to all classes of our community. I can hardly 
speak too highly of the manner in which you have discussed the 
various subjects passed under review ; but if there is any part 
of the work more important than another, it is that relating to 
the influence of impure milk upon the health and lives of chil- 
dren. The facts you have set forth in regard to this matter, are 
of a startling character, and calculated to arrest the attention of 
every philanthropist. That your opinions are sound, and your 
conclusions legitimate and impregnable, I have no doubt what- 
ever. They are such as the observation and experience of fifteen 
years practice of medicine in this city, have irresistibly forced 
upon my own mind. The dissemination of your views must, 
therefore, prove of great benefit to our citizens. Every farmer, 
dairyman and producer of milk, every distiller, and especially 
every head of a family in which milk is an article of diet, should 
make no delay in possessing your most valuable and interest- 
ing work. 

Truly yours, 

CHARLES A. LEE, M. D. 



From Luther Jackson, Esq., New- York, 

New-York, November 22d, 1841, 
Dear Sir: 

You are about presenting to the world in your "History of 
Milk," an invaluable original work. I have carefully perused 

1* 



D RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 

the manuscript, and am unable in few words either to express 
my high estimate of the general importance of the essay, or my 
admiration of the manner in which the various topics introdu- 
ced, are discussed. To the general reader, and to the man of 
science, it can scarcely fail to prove both interesting and instruc- 
tive, whilst its startling disclosures in relation to the destruction 
of infant health and life, are calculated to strike a chord, to 
which every humane heart will instinctively respond. All your 
views and conclusions on the subject, are fully verified by my 
own observations. 1 regard them as indisputable, and so im- 
portant, that every family in the community should be in pos- 
session of the work. I say the work, for the facts it contains can 
be found nowhere else. I consider it, in short, as an original 
development of an iniquitous system, affecting the health, life, 
and morals of multitudes in our own and other lands, which 
hitherto, under the most specious disguises, has been concealed 
from the public eye. To have discovered and pointed this out 
is so important, that it is not easy to commend extravagantly. 
No friend of temperance should be without the work, as it will 
give a new direction to his thoughts, and a new impulse to his 
labors. 

That your philanthropic efforts may be successful in remov- 
ing the evils you have so faithfully depicted, is the earnest de- 
sire of your devoted friend, 

L. JACKSON. 



Owing to the necessity of placing the sheets immedi- 
ately in the hands of the binder, they were submitted to 
the examination of but few individuals, from whom letters 
have been received, of which the following are specimens. 

From Professor John W. Francis, M. D., Resident Physician 
of New- York. 

To R. M. Hartley, Esq. 

New-York, December 16th, 1841. 
Dear Sir : 

1 have given your treatise on milk a careful perusal. It is 
most apparent that the deleterious consequences resulting from 
the distillation of alcoholic liquors had not hitherto been fully 
explored. Not satisfied with the destruction of life directly in- 
flicted by the intoxicating cup, there lurks behind the disease 
and death induced on the sober part of the community, who mix 
with their daily food that secretion which had been universally 
recognised, as the most bland and nutritive of all alimentary 
substances. But the most important portion of your work, is 
that in which you have traced the morbific effects of unwhole- 



RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 7 

some milk employed as infantile diet. The facts you have ad- 
duced, place your argument beyond the reach of successful con- 
tradiction, and deserves the serious attention, and solemn consid- 
eration of all. JNo physiological or pathological principle in the 
human economy is better grounded than thai upon which you 
insist, namely, that the blood and secretions are modified by the 
nature of the material taken for the purposes of nutrition ; hence 
an article so universal in its use as milk, when vitiated, must 
prove an abundant source of irremediable mischief, and to have 
pointed this out, entitles you to the applause of every well-wisher 
of his species. 

Most respectfully yours, 

JOHN W. FRANCIS. 



From James C. Bliss, M.D. 

New- York, December 20lh, 1841. 
Dear Sir: 

I have been able only in a very cursory manner to look over 
your contemplated publication, entitled the " History of Milk." 
The plan of the work is judicious, and evinces no inconsiderable 
research ; and the facts you have collected are well arranged, 
and calculated to arouse public attention to a subject of great 
interest to the well-being of society. As a member of the pro- 
fession whose office it is to watch over the public health, I feel 
myself indebted to you for having directed the attention of phy- 
sicians, as well as that of the community generally, to one of the 
most appalling evils connected with the destruction of human life. 
In common with my medical brethren, I have been aware for 
many years that milk, as it has been distributed in our city, was 
one of the most fruitful causes of disease in infants, and that its 
use as an aliment, was one of the greatest obstacles to the re- 
moval of maladies already existing. Until you were led to 
make the inquiries which you are now about to spread before the 
public, I was, however, ignorant of the fearful extent of the evil. 
The publication of this volume will, I doubt not, greatly sub- 
serve the cause of humanity, and will excite no inconsiderable 
interest in Europe as well as in this country, among those who 
wish to diminish the sum of human suffering. 

1 am, with sentiments of respect, 

Your obedient servant, 

JAS. C. BLISS. 



From N. H. Dering, M. D. 

Netv-Yurk, December 27th, 1841. 
Dear Sir : 

A hasty perusal of the sheets of your intended publication 
on "Milk," which you have done me the honor to submit to me 



8 RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 

for my opinion, has impressed my mind with a strong conviction 
of the value of your researches. 

Knowing, as every physician in this city does, the appalling 
effects of improper diet upon the health and lives of the children, 
of which impure and innutritions milk constitutes the greater 

f>art, I have often wondered that the corrective power of the 
aw, or of public opinion, has not long since been applied. The 
reason can only be found in the fact, that the people have been 
ignorant of their danger. I trust that your interesting and val- 
uable book, will arouse the community to a sense of the hidden 
dangers which surround them, and induce them speedily to cor- 
rect an evil which annually destroys the lives of so great a num- 
ber of the children attempted to be reared in this city. 
1 am, very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

N. H. DERING. 



From David M. Reese, A.M. M. D. of New-York, Profes- 
sor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine, in the Castleton 
Medical College, Vermont. 

New-York, December 22d, 1841. 
Dear Sir : 

I have availed myself of an early opportunity to examine the 
proof-sheets of your treatise on milk, which you did me the fa- 
vor to leave for my perusal, and am pleased and gratified to learn, 
that to a just appreciation of the importance of the subject to 
human health and life, you have added a diligent and scientific 
inquiry into a topic hitherto comparatively unexplored. 

In the historical disquisition with which the volume opens, 
there is an amount of information for which we may seek else- 
where in vain, especially in reference to the comparative physi- 
ology concerned in the investigation. Your scientific and phi- 
losophical analysis of milk, taken from different lactiferous 
animals, and from cows both under wholesome and unwhole- 
some regimen ; as well as in the tables, illustrations, and criti- 
cisms by which the analysis is accompanied, you have given 
proof of a thorough acquaintance with the subject in all its bear- 
ings. In the remedial provisions which you have indicated in 
the work, for the preservation of our population in large cities 
from the physical and moral mischiefs consequent upon the sup- 
ply of impure and poisonous milk, you have practically demon*- 
etrated the utilitarian character of your researches, and merited 
the title of a public benefactor. 

As one of the guardians of the public health, I owe you the 
expression of my grateful thanks, for the lucid and conclusive 
expose you have made of the iniquitous, demoralizing, and 
poisonous work of distillation, as carried on in New- York and 



RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. V 

its vicinity, to so disgraceful an extent. Of the direct and pal- 
pable destruction of human life, especially among those children 
and feeble adults, who have been of necessity sustained by the 
milk obtained from cows fed on distillery slop, and housed in 
narrow, filthy, unventilated stables, I believe the half is not told, 
even in the forcible disclosures of this volume. Nor can I 
doubt that much of our infantile mortality, is to be ascribed to 
the use of such milk. I trust that your work will serve to open 
the eyes of the public to this important, though neglected sub- 
ject ; and that you may receive, as you deserve, the patronage 
of our community, to an extent which may remunerate you for 
your laudable and benevolent labor. 

Respectfully your friend, 

D. M. REESE, M. D. 



From the Rev. Alonzo Potter, D. D., Professor of Intellectu- 
al and Moral Philosophy, and the Rev. EliphaletNott, D. D., 
President of Union College, Schenectady, New- York. 

New- York, December 16th, 1841. 
Deah Sir: 

The subject of your proposed work is one of great importance. 
An examination of the history and physical qualities of a sub- 
stance, which has exerted so remarkable an influence on human 
welfare, would merit, by itself, much attention. But the indis- 
pensable necessity of using the article in its pure form, and the 
great abuses which appear to prevail in the present methods of 
supplying it to large cities, invest the discussion, at this time, 
with peculiar interest. The startling disclosures contained in 
j'our work cannot fail to arrest attention ; and I sincerely trust 
that your persevering and fearless exertions in this cause, may 
be crowned with success. 

Yours truly, 

ALONZO POTTER. 



New-York, December 18lh, 1841. 
Having partially examined the above work, and being in 
some measure acquainted with the subject to which it refers, 
1 hereby express my entire concurrence in the opinion above ex- 
pressed by Professor Potter. 

ELIPHALET NOTT. 



From the Rev. Thomas De Witt, D. D., Pastor of the Col- 
legiate Church, New-York. 

Sir: New-York, December 2'3d, 1841. 

I have looked over the sheets of your volume " On Milk," soon 
to be published, which you kindly placed in my hand. Two 



10 RECOMMENDATORY NOTICES. 

years or more ago, I read with interest the essays on the subject 
prepared by you and published in some of our periodicals, and 
felt that they claimed the attention of the whole community. I 
feel gratified that you have since investigated the subject still 
more fully and thoroughly, and have prepared a volume at once 
elaborate, well arranged, and satisfactory in its statement of 
facts, arguments, and conclusions. The subject will now be 
placed before the public in this permanent form, instead of the 
pages of a periodical, soon laid aside, and perhaps forgotten. I 
cannot resist the conviction, that wherever your volume circu- 
lates, the community will be surprised at the ignorance in 
which they have been involved as to the adulterated and perni- 
cious character of a large proportion of the milk used, particu- 
larly in our large cities, and the evil effects produced by it 
on human health and life, especially in infancy, and will be ex- 
cited and led to adopt the proper measures suggested for pro- 
curing a supply of pure, healthful, and nutritious milk. I have 
no doubt that the gentlemen of the medical profession will unite 
in testifying to the importance of the subject, the satisfactory 
manner in which you have discussed it, and the value of the 
remedies for the existing evil you have suggested. I trust you 
will soon have abundant proof that your " labour of love" in 
the preparation of this volume, finds ils reward in the cure of the 
evil, by the wide, and successful diffusion of the remedy, in the 
universal use of pure milk. 

THOMAS DE WITT. 



From Samuel. A. Foot, Esq., Counsellor at Law, New-York. 

New-York, December 18th, 1841. 
Dear Sir : 

I have looked over the first 2S0 pages of your book on milk, 
and am astonished at the extraordinary and startling facts you 
have collected and presented to the public, respecting the man- 
ner in which the milk is produced, and the deleterious qualities 
of an article upon which the families and children of a very 
large majority of our fellow citizens are fed. You have, in my 
opinion, conferred a great benefit on the inhabitants of this city 
and other populous towns by publishing this work ; and I ear- 
nestly recommend its perusal to every person who uses milk for 
food, and especially to every parent who provides it as an arti- 
cle of nourishment for his children. 
1 am, respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

SAMUEL A. FOOT. 

23 s * See the Hon. S. Stevens's letter in the Appendix. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Milk, derivation of the term. — Its peculiar properties and char- 
acteristics. — Primary design of. — Providence of successive 
nature. — Importance of the study. — Mutual dependence of the 
animal and vegetable kingdom. — Parts of the system essential 
to the whole. — Evidences of design in creation. — Material 
things subservient to a moral purpose. — Tendencies of these 
considerations 25 

CHAPTER II. 

PRIMEVAL CONDITION OF MAN. 

- 

Our first knowledge of man. — His food. — Covering. — Condition. 
— Occupation, a hunter. — Early subjection of animals. — Oc- 
casion of the first use of milk. — The result of design. — Num- 
ber of the domesticated species of animals, not increased by 
the lapse of time 31 

CHAPTER III. 

MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF THE INFANCY OF SOCIETY. 

Quadrupeds domesticated before the deluge. — Adam a herds- 
man or shepherd. — Reasons why these pursuits preceded that 
of agriculture. — Miraculous preservation of animals at the 
deluge. — Occupation of the ancient patriarchs. — First men- 
tion of milk in sacred history.— Value of flocks and herds 
to the ancient Hehrews 36 

CHAPTER IV. 

PASTORAL LIFE INDUCED THE FIRST CONNECTED CONDITION OF 
SOCIETY. 

Influences of pastoral life. — Patriarch shepherds. — Their wealth 
and power. — Flocks and herds how managed. — Their num- 
bers. — Scriptural allusions to pastoral occupations. — Spread 
of the human family from Ararat. — Antiquity of domestic an- 
imals, shown by ancient coins and medals. — Animals issuing 
from the ark. — Distinction conferred on the bovine race 43- 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

TESTIMONY OF PROFANE HISTORY TO THE ANTIQUITY AND 
UTILITY OF DOME3TICATED ANIMALS. 

Cattle in Egypt. — In Greece. — In Scythia. — In ancient Rome. 
— .^Ethiopia and Lusitania. — Idolatrous veneration of cattle. — 
Indian, Egyptian and Roman cattle. — Consequences of the 
Roman conquests. — Pursuits of society during the " Dark 
Ages." — Cattle in France. Britain, &c. — Different opinions of 
natural ists. — Original race of cattle. — Varieties of the European 
cow. — Diversity of qualities in the cow family. — Indian and 
Tartar cattle 50 

CHAPTER VI. 

INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION ON CATTLE — THEIR INTRODUCTION 
INTO AMERICA, ETC. 

Training cattle in central Africa. — Superior intelligence of Caf- 
fre cattle illustrated. — Swiss cattle, anecdotes of. — Proofs of 
bovine sagacity. — Attachment to their keepers. — Transporta- 
tion of cattle from the Canaries and Europe to South Ameri- 
ca. — Anecdote of their sagacity. — Introduction of cattle into 
New England. — Bulls used for riding. — Clark's Island. — Im- 
portation of cattle to the middle states. — Cattle as a source of 
national wealth. — Importance of this species of animals. — 
Summary conclusion ,60 

CHAPTER VII. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF MILK. 

Design of milk, its properties and appropriation. — Kinds of milk 
used in different countries. — Superior value of cow's milk. — 
Its appreciable qualities. — Color of good milk. — Smell and 
taste. — Alkaline property. — Summary description of good 
milk 74 

CHAPTER VIII. 

ANALYSIS AND CONSTITUENTS OF COW'S MILK. 

Microscopical examination of milk. — The specific gravity of va- 
rious kinds. — Difference of quality. — Specific gravity, how af- 
fected. — Analysis of several kinds of milk. — Constituents of 
milk. — It elementary principles. — f. Cream — its specific grav- 
ity and constituents. — How resolved into butter. — Insoluble 
in spirits of wine, &c. — II. Curd — how formed. — Effect of heat 
on milk. — Coagulable by acids 79 






CONTENTS. 13 

CHAPTER IX. 

ANALYSIS AND CONSTITUENTS OF MILK CONTINUED. 

Properties of curd. — Soluble caseura how obtained. — Combina- 
tion of curd with mineral acids.— Analysis and Constituents 
of curd. — Its ultimate elements. — III. Whey. — Its appearance 
and properties. — Sugar of milk.— Processes of obtaining it. — 
Its properties. — Muriates of potash and soda. — Phosphate of 
lime, how separated. — Gelatin, &c, &c 86 

CHAPTER X. 

HUMAN MILK. 

Pliny's opinion of different kinds of milk. — Artificial ass's milk 
its reputed virtues. — Peculiarities of human milk. — Whiter 
than*cow's. — Yields more cream. — In what respects it differs, 
— Variations of it at different periods. — It is incoagulable. — 
Less prone to acidity than other milk. — It is affected by men- 
tal emotions. — Illustrated by an anecdote 92 

CHAPTER XI. 

MILK OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 

Ass's milk compared with cow's milk. — In what it chiefly differs. 
— Mare's milk. — Its properties. — Less nutritious than any 
other. — Abounds in saccharine matter. — Method of obtaining 
an intoxicating liquor therefrom. — Goat's milk. — Its proper- 
ties. — Evaporation of five kinds of mlik and results. — Compar- 
ison of different kinds. — Ewe's, camel's, sow's, and bitch's milk. 
— Medicinal properties of the latter. — Whale's milk. — Its 
lactescent organs. — The constituents of six kinds of milk com- 
pared. — The differences in milk referred to the digestive pro- 
cess. — Evidences of design in milk. — Milk, the great alimenta- 
ry prototype 98 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE UNNATURAL METHODS OF PRODUCING MILK FOR THE CON- 
SUMPTION OF LARGE CITIES. 

Impure milk consequent upon the mismanagement of the dairies. 
— The evil avoidable. — Manner of producing milk. — Preva- 
lence of its use. — Collateral mischiefs. — Connection of the dai- 
ries with distilleries. — Importance of the former to the latter. — 
Slop as food for fattening cattle. — Distilleries in the vicinity 
of cities. — Ignorance of the people on the subject. — Slop-milk 
only a branch. — Quadruple alliance. — Extent of the evils pro- 
duced shown by the destruction of grain. — The production 
of whisky. — Diseased cattle and swine slaughtered . 107 
2 






14 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIII. 



EVILS OF UNNATURAL FEEDING DEMONSTRATED FROM THE 
PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE COW. 

Digestive organs of ruminant animals. — Teeth. — Salivary- 
glands. — (Esophagus. — Reticulum. — Omasum. — Abomasum. 
— Process of rumination. — Liquids pass into the fourth stom- 
ach.— Digestive process. — In the different stomachs. — Gastric 
juice. — General deductions 116 

CHAPTER XIV. 

APPROPRIATE FOOD, PURE AIR, AND EXERCISE, NECESSARY TO 
THE HEALTHY CONDITION OF DAIRY CATTLE. 

Temperature of food. — Liquid aliment improper.— Forming 
milk out of solid food. — Herbaceous matter adapted to the 
wants of the animal. — Healthy chyle. — Pure air necessary to 
health. — Injurious effects of foul air. — Exercise important to 
health. — Illustrated by experiments. — Exercise an instinct 124 

CHAPTER XV. 

ACTUAL CONDITION OF THE DAIRIES. 

Food of dairy cows — Their number. — Management. — Effects. 
— Condition and temperature of the food. — Distillery-slop dai- 
ries. — Average quantity of slop consumed 132 

CHAPTER XVI. 

CONDITION OF THE DAIRIES CONTINUED. 

Personal testimony on the subject. — Description of a dairy. — 
Arrangement of the cattle pens. — Interior of the stables. — 
Confinement of the milch-cows. — Consequences of this treat- 
ment 138 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CAUSE INFERRED FROM THE EFFECTS. 

Injurious consequences of slop on the health of cattle. — Its stim- 
ulating effects on the stomach and intestines. — Foul air. — De- 
privation of exercise. — Diseased cattle slaughtered for the 
markets 144 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF PERNICIOUS DIET. 

The teeth. — Testimony, with illustrations. — Some exceptions 
thereto. — Consequences not peculiar to cattle. — Swine affect- 



CONTENTS. 15 

ed by it. — How kept in Philadelphia. — Testimony of distillers. 
— Feeding swine on slop unprofitable. — Mortality among 
cows. — Report of a committee. — Diseased meat unfit for food. 
— On whom the correction of the evil depends . . . 14S 

CHAPTER XIX. 

DISEASES CONSEQUENT UPON THIS UNNATURAL SYSTEM. 

Dry-murrain. — Bloody-murrain. — Consumption. — Effects of it 
on the milk. — Wolf-in-the-tail. — Diarrhoea, Pleurisy, etc. 158 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE POISONOUS EFFECTS OF DISEASE ON THE MILK OF COWS. 

Chaptal's opinion. — Facts illustrating the poisonous effects ot 
milk. — Milk-sickness. — Dr. Graff's testimony. — Christison's 
ditto. — Familiar facts on the subject. — A letter from a physi- 
cian. — Also from a corespondent 168 

CHAPTER XXI. 

FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 

Preliminary statements. — Continued prevalence of the evil. — 
Report addressed to the Medical Society of Paris. — Impure 
milk acid. — Test of acidity. — Result of experiments. — Condi- 
tions essential to good milk. — How acidity may be corrected. — 
Case in M. D'Arcet's family. — A caution. — Importance of this 
testimony. — All slop-milk acid. — Beer grains. — Milk in our 
cities worse than in Paris 177 

CHAPTER XXII. 

NUTRITIOUS PROPERTIES OF MILK. 

Specific gravity of milk. — By what affected — The lactometer. — 
Methods of ascertaining the specific gravity of milk. — The 
proportions of cream and curd by measure. — Husted's and 
Mead's dairy. — Lee's and Wolcott's. — Morris's. — Fisher's. — 
Townsend's. — Milk from a city-fed cow. — Samples of slop- 
milk. — Underbill's dairy. — Tables showing the results of va- 
rious examinations of milk. — The superiority of pure milk for 
culinary purposes. — Slop-milk deficient in oil and albumen. — 
Letter from a physician. — Adulteration of milk with drugs.-— 
Also with water. — Iniquityofthesepractic.es .... 185 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

DELUSIONS ON THE SUBJECT OF MILK. 

Instructions of experience. — Prevalence of popular mistakes.— 
A knowledge of our ignorance important. — Diseased food al- 
ways unhealthy. — Illustrated in the case of the human infant. 



16 CONTENTS. 

— Influence of drugs on the child when taken by the mother. — 
Sensibility of the infant system. — Analogous inferences. — ■ 
Practical importance thereof. — Water, as a diluent. — Milk the 
natural food of the infant 201 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

INFANT MORTALITY IN FOREIGN CITIES. 

Infant physiology. — Analogies of nature. — Physical and moral 
debasement in Paris. — Also in London. — In Liverpool. — Bir- 
mingham. — Glasgow, etc. — Consequences therefrom. — Infant 
mortality in England. — Foundling hospitals. — In Paris. — Lon- 
don. — Amsterdam. — Glasgow. — Improvement in the duration 
of adult life. — Also of infant life. — Table of infant mortality 
in London. — General diminution of infant mortality. — De- 
ductions 208 

CHAPTER XXV. 

INFANT MORTALITY IN AMERICAN CITIES. 

Design of the preceding chapter. — Infant mortality in Boston. — 
Tabular view of infant deaths in Philadelphia. — Mortality of 
infants in New-York. — A principle established — Inferences 
therefrom. — Infant mortality, not chiefly owing to atmospher- 
ical influences — Atmospherical salubrity in New- York, etc. — 
What is the cause of the excessive brevity of infant life in 
American cities? 2 IS 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

INFLUENCE OF IMPURE MILK ON THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN IN 
CITIES. 

Effects of immigration on the bills of mortality. — Immigrants in 
foreign cities — Objections anticipated. — Excessive infant 
mortality chiefly owing to improper aliment —Impure milk 
such aliment.— Objection considered — .Origin and progress of 
the evil. — Influence of other causes. — Extent of the evil. — ■ 
Early extinction of infant life in cities not a design of Provi- 
dence. — Certificate of physicians. — Duty in reference to the 
subject 2i8 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

INCIDENTAL TESTIMONY. 

Letter from a friend. — Cases of sickness occasioned by slop-milk, 
and recovery. — A similar casein the author's family. — Effects 
of impure milk on a cat. Fatal effects of slop-milk in a family 
of children.— Cutaneous erruptions occasioned by its use. — 
Reasons for introducing certain descriptions. — A disgusting 
incident. — Filthiness of slop-men. — Death of cattle. . . 240 



CONTENTS. 17 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

LETTERS FROM CHARLES A. LEE, M. D. LATE PROFESSOR OF 
MATERIA MEDICA IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW-YORK, ETC. 

Opportunities for observation. — Appearance of children fed on 
slop-milk. — Profits of slop feeding. — Value of the slop dairy to 
the distiller. — Description of slop-milk. — Difficulty of obtaining 
pure milk for children. — Health of children destroyed by im- 

Fure milk. — Influence of food on the quality of milk. — Letter 
I. — Prefatory remarks. — Effects of slop on the health of cat- 
tle. — Influence of slop-milk on health. — Fatal effects of it, with 
diagnosis of case. — Marasmus arising from innutritious diet. — 
Duty of municipal authorities in relation to the evil. — Letter 
III., from Mr. John Burdell, dentist. — A drawing of a child's 
jaw with explanations. — Teeth, the indexes of the constitution. 
■ — How affected by impure milk. — Early injury to the teeth 
never repaired. — Teeth of the present generation inferior to 
those of the preceding. — Effects of slop-milk not limited to 
infants. — Incidental considerations. — Process of nutrition. — 
Phosphate of lime in pure milk. — Teeth and bones formed 
therefrom. — Beauty of this arrangement ..... 250 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

MILK SICKNESS. 

Preliminary observations.— First mention of milk sickness.— Re- 
gions to which it is peculiar. — Confined to no season. — What 
animals subject to it. — Symptoms of the disease in brutes. — 
Symptoms of the disease in men. — Its virulence and fatality. — 
Cause of the disease. — Its locality circumscribed. — Invesli- 
gations of its orgin. — Different theories concerning it. — Na- 
ture of the poison. — Affects the flesh and vitiates all the secre- 
tions.— Experiments thereon. — Its fatality illustrated. — Some 
points of resemblance in the appearances and effects, com- 
mon to diseased slop-fed cattle. — Probable cause of milk sick- 
ness 267 

CHAPTER XXX. 

FOREIGN MILK DAIRIES. 

Impure milk not peculiar to American cities. — Flemish and 
Dutch dairies. — Food for cattle. — Dairy management in Hol- 
land, Switzerland, etc. — How managed for the supply of large 
towns with milk in England. — Brewers' grains, the chief food 
of milch cows. — How preserved. — Distillery slop. — Other food. 
— Stabling cows. — Rhodes' dairy, description of. — Laycock's 
dairy. — Metropolitan dairy. — Frauds in milk. — Effects of sta- 
bling. — Cows in London. — Adulterations and impositions in 
milk. — Harley's dairy at Glasgow. — Professed advantages of 

his system. — Its defects 280 

2* 



18 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED, AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF REFORM CON- 
SIDERED. 

Slop healthy food for cattle, because the refuse of grain. — Slop 
said to be eaten in the state of vinous fermentation. — Cattle said 
to thrive on small portions of slop. — Gradual correction of 
the evil. — Difficulties in the way of reform. — The evil stands 
not alone. — Why distillers are opposed to reform. — A letter 
from distillers. — The distillation of liquor encouraged by the 
patronage of the moral and temperate. — Cow stables the night- 
ly resort of thieves and vagabonds. — Responsibility of distil- 
lers. — Distilleries in New-York, etc. — Production of whisky. — 
Destruction of grain. — 'Whisky from the west and south. — Di- 
lution and sale of slop essential to the support of the distilleries. 
— The number of rectifying houses. — The advantages of 
these establishments to the city distiller.-— Distillation of spirit 
from molasses. — A grain distillery in Philadelphia. — Opposi- 
tion of slop-men. — Diseased condition of the cattle. — The 
stock and their management must be changed. — The evil, not 
necessary. — Reform practicable. — Desecration of the Sabbath 
by the traffic in milk and slop 301 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

FRAUDS AND IMPOSITIONS IN THE SLOP-MILK SYSTEM. 

Deceptive practices ofdairymen, illustrated by facts. — False la- 
bels on milk-carts. — Intrigue with servants. — Professors of re- 
ligion engaged in the slop-milk business. — Facilities for de- 
ception. — Influence of half-slop-men. — Their management. — 
Price of pure milk. — Price of slop-milk. — The poor, willing to 
pay a fair price for good milk. — Price no difficulty with the 
wealthy. — Feeding cattle with slop, the result of choice, not of 
necessity. — Appeal to those in the business. — Inexcusableness 
of apathy on the subject. — Appeal to mothers. — Also to the 
farmers of Long-Island and New Jersey, and of the counties 
of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Orange, etc. . . . 319 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FACTS AND ESTIMATES. 

Preliminary remarks. — Basis of an estimate. — Consumption of 
grain by distillation. — A perversion of the bounties of Provi- 
dence. — Effects of distillation on the price of bread-stuffs. — An- 
nual product of spirit and cost to the consumer. — Cost of in- 
temperance. — Tax on real estate.— Demoralizing effects of 
intemperance.— The triple league.— Responsibility of magis- 
trates, and of the people. —Concluding observations . . 339 

appendix 351 



PREFACE. 



Several years have elapsed since the Author's attention was 
first directed to the subject of Milk, as an article of human sus- 
tenance in large cities. (He had observed, with regret, that in 
the management of the dairies, no regard was paid to the pecu- 
liarities of the animal organization, and a little reflection con- 
vinced him that consequences of an injurious kind, might be 
expected to result from this unnatural treatment.^ Desiring to 
ascertain whether such were its recognized effects, he had re- 
course to books ; but, to his surprise, could discover nothing that 
had been written upon the subject. As the facts involved vari- 
ous consequences affecting the physical welfare and incidentally 
the morals of the people, he supposed they might be obtained 
from physicians or other men of observation and intelligence ; 
but after extensive oral intercourse for information, he found 
that the subject, wherever introduced, was previously unthought 
of and unknown. It appeared, in short, that whatever relation 
it sustained to the well-being of the community, remained yet to 
be developed and published to the world. 

Being thus urged to a personal investigation of the subject, 
he entered upon a careful survey of the dairies, and their appen- 
dages the distilleries. The latter he found surrounded with 
hundreds, and in some instances, with thousands of milch cows, 
confined in filthy pens, bloated, diseased and dying, and most 



20 PREFACE. 

inhumanly condemned to subsist chiefly on the dregs of distil- 
lation, reeking hot from the whisky manufactories. He followed 
the distribution of the milk as it flowed from these polluted sources 
to his own family, where he beheld his youngest child rapidly 
sinking under the effects of this pernicious aliment, whilst the 
cause of the illness, until then, was unknown 'and unsuspected. 
Enlarging his survey, he ascertained that in this community 
alone there was more than sixty thousand families, and in these 
families more than twenty-five thousand children under the age 
of five years, among whom this impure milk was a staple article 
of diet. 

He next examined the bills of mortality in some of the chief 
cities, extending back his researches as far as authentic data could 
be obtained, and discovered, that from some cause or causes un- 
known, the proportion of infant deaths was not only frightfully 
great, but steadily augmenting. From the year 1814 to 1841, 
the destruction of infant life had increased from about thirty -two 
per cent., to more than fifty per cent. ; in other words, more than 
one half of the total deaths, occurred among children under the 
age of five years. This appalling fact, led him to examine the 
vital statistics of foreign cities, to ascertain to what extent this 
fatality was general and inseparable from the conditions of a city 
life ; and he learned that in them it was less and diminishing, 
whilst the reverse was true of our American cities. 

He then traced the much abused cattle, which in a few months 
become so diseased as to be ever after unfit for the dairy, to the 
shambles, where they are slaughtered by thousands ; and to the 
markets, where the flesh is sold at enormous prices to be eaten 
by our citizens. He ascertained, moreover, that the breweries 
and distilleries, in this way, were destroying nearly as much 
grain created for purposes of sustenance, as would suffice for 



PREFACE. 21 

the consumption of the population. And to crown the whole, 
this vast and complicated system, with its wide-spread mischiefs, 
was produced and sustained by agencies the least likely to he 
suspected ; it was, in short, so involved and ramified, that the 
people were unconsciously a party in bringing upon themselves 
the evils they suffered. 

Having satisfied himself that these facts were indisputable, 
it became his immediate object to spread them before the public 
in a series of essays which appeared in the public journals, and 
subsequently by numerous lectures. For a season, the evil was 
arrested, several pure dairies sprang up, and many philanthropic 
individuals became interested in the subject. But it had by a 
growth of many years struck deep its roots, and acquired an 
amplitude and strength which resisted the puny efforts that 
were brought against it. The voice of the lecturer was heard 
by comparatively few, and soon forgotten ; and the leaves of a 
public journal for reference, were scarcely less precarious and 
fugitive. The Author was thus, unfortunately, the chief depo- 
sitary of facts on the subject, which drew on him from various 
quarters applications for information, utterly beyond his ability to 
supply. Those, consequently, who from a knowledge of general 
principles were eager to aid in their diffusion for the benefit of 
others, were deterred from engaging in the work, because un- 
furnished with the facts which were essential as a basis of all 
just reasoning upon the subject. In other departments of benev- 
olent action, the materials were at hand ; but in this they were 
so far asunder as to discourage ordinary effort to bring them 
together for practical effect. There was not, in brief, a page of 
written authority that could be consulted. 

These circumstances explain the origin of this volume. It 
was undertaken to supply an urgent demand for information on 
an important, economical and moral subject, hitherto untouched 



22 PREFACE. 

by any previous writer. In directing his attention to the plan of 
a work for this object, other topics connected with it, besides 
those mentioned, naturally presented their claims to considera- 
tion as branches of the subject, and necessary in a general his- 
tory. He was. therefore, induced to take a wider range than 
was originally designed ; and by thus treating it in a manner 
never before attempted, has rendered the work, he trusts, more 
complete and deserving of attention, than it would otherwise 
have appeared. 

In the historical part, as the limits of the essay did not admit 
of detail, he has introduced only the best, authenticated incidents 
and particulars, which were scattered through a varietyof uncon- 
nected departments of literature ; and endeavored to bring them 
into such succession and arrangement, as, whilst they illustrate 
the general subject, and instruct and interest the observer of 
nature, will, by the manifested evidences of design everywhere 
luminously displayed, naturally elevate the devout mind to 
communion with him, without whom was not any thing made 
that was made. 

The scientific branch of the iniquiry he has endeavored to ren- 
der as complete, as the present knowledge of the subject will 
admit. For this purpose the best and latest authorities have been 
consulted, including the most recent experiments and exami- 
nations. Hence the results which philosophical chemistry has 
developed of the elements of milk, their proportions and com- 
binations, and the methods of obtaining them, may here be 
learned by the professional student; and the man in ordinary 
life who is not a practical chemist, and is without the convenience 
of a laboratory, may also gather such instruction as will, by easy 
experiments, protect his health and wealth from fraudulent im- 
positions and injury. To the deductions of others, the Author's 



PREFACE. 23 

acquaintance with the suhjecthas enabled him to add some ex- 
periments of his own, with such practical hints and elucidations, 
as, he believes, will be useful and profitable. The arrangement 
of the matter is new, and elaborated with the design of condens- 
ing into small compass, the sum of what is now known on the 
subject. 

The essay does not pretend to the character of a systematic 
guide to the dairyman ; yet it contains valuable practical in- 
structions on the subject, which, it is believed, will repay a 
perusal by persons engaged in such occupations. By an obser- 
vance of the principles laid down, many serious mistakes, com- 
mon in dairy management, will be avoided. 

In the prosecution of the work, it has been his design, in 
every instance, to acknowledge his obligations to the authors 
he has consulted, and he is not aware of having deviated from 
this purpose. If, however, he has introduced any sentiment or 
expression without referring it to the writer, he trusts this gen- 
eral acknowledgment will atone for the inadvertence. 

Having no other than a moral interest in the subject, it has 
been the author's object to exhibit facts, solely with reference to 
humane and benevolent results. In doing this, he has been 
anxious to avoid all reasonable occasions of displeasure to any 
class of men. If he has done injustice to any, it has been unde- 
signed, and when made known, the acknowledgment shall be 
as public as the offence. If, however, in the discussion of the 
subjects that have come under review, some truths are brought 
to light which strongly reflect on the practices of those engaged 
in them, for this he is not morally amenable ; and the odium 
and the guilt must rest upon those who, with better knowledge, 
pursue occupations that are disreputable in themselves, and inju- 
rious to their fellow men. 



24 



PREFACE. 



As the work has been written amidst the pressure of other 
employments little congenial to literary pursuits, the Author is 
not so presumptuous as to imagine that it is free from those in- 
accuracies and defects, which under any circumstances are usu- 
ally inseparable from a first attempt to sketch a new subject. 
He has, indeed, painful apprehensions, lest its imperfections 
materially impair its usefulness. Beyond this his solicitude 
does not extend. But should the result disappoint his fears, 
and this unpretending essay become instrumental, to any extent, 
in vanquishing the evils he has endeavored to portray, the 
philanthropic will rejoice in its success, and his labor receive an 
abundant recompense. 

R. M. H. 

Clinton Hall, New- York, 
September 17, 1811. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Milk, derivation of the term. — Its peculiar properties and character- 
istics. — Primary design of. — Providence of successive nature: — 
Importance of the study. — Mutual dependence of the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms. — Parts of the system essential to the whole. 
— Evidences of design in creation. — Material things subservient 
to a moral purpose. — Tendencies of these considerations. 

Milk, from the Greek Mel-ysiv, or the Latin Mulgeo, 
which literally signifies to press out by handling or softening 
with the hand, is the name of a well known animal fluid. 
It is the only material in the whole range of organic matter, 
that is designed and prepared by nature, expressly as food. 
Being a natural compound of albumen,* oil and sugar, 
which constitute the three great staminal principles that 
are essential to the support of animal life, it is a model of 
what a nutricious substance ought to be, and the most 
perfect of all elementary aliments.f Such being its cha- 
racteristics, it possesses both animal and vegetable pro- 
perties, and naturally takes its place at the head of nutrient 
substances. As it cannot be imitated by art, it occupies a 

* The principles fibrin and albumen, which play so important a 
part in the constitution of the animal solids, are now, on the authority 
of Liebeg, stated to be identical. M.Dennis has communicated a 
letter to the Academy of Sciences, in which Liebeg states that he has 
been able to dissolve fibrin by a moderate heat in a saturated solution 
of nitre, and that the fluid has all the properties of a solution of albu- 
men. — Provincial Medical and Surgical Journal. 

t Prout's Treatise, p. 259. 

3 



26 PRIMARY DESIGN OF MILK. 

place among aliments which nothing else can supply. It 
is, indeed, made essential by Infinite Wisdom to the exist- 
ence not only of the human family, but also to many most 
useful orders of animals, to which man, notwithstanding 
his higher attributes, in physical organization, is nearly 
allied. 

Milk was primarily designed to nourish the young of 
certain species of animals, during the early stages of their 
existence ; its use, of course, as food, has been coeval with 
their creation. But as its nourishing properties and adap- 
tation to the wants of man could not long have escaped his 
observation, it is not reasonable to infer that he who was 
the divinely appointed lord of irrational creatures, would 
hesitate to appropriate this unlabored gift of nature to his 
own use. And as this subservience of the creatures to the 
necessities and comforts of man, secured from him in re- 
turn that protection which would tend to augment their 
numbers and increase their enjoyments, we may not doubt, 
that in this way, the beneficent intentions of the Creator 
were best fulfilled. 

But, important as is the part which milk sustains in 
the animal economy, its history has never been written. 
Yet who will affirm that the subject, either in itself or in 
its relations, is devoid of interest and useful instruction ? 
We refer not now solely to the fluid aliment which is of 
the highest economical value to man; nor yet to the lac- 
teal system, which has been denominated a constant won- 
der ; but chiefly to the providence of successive nature in 
the animal kingdom, which from the remotest antiquity 
has preserved for the use of mankind so valuable a class 
as the mammiferous domesticated animals from extinction. 
If the humblest production of the Creator deserves the con- 
sideration of the philosophical naturalist, much more should 



IMPORTANCE OF THE BOVINE TRIBES. 27 

the mass of mankind regard with interest an order of quad- 
rupeds with which they have the nearest connection, and 
from whom the advantages derived are so important, that 
man with all his moral and mental endowments, has never 
yet attained a state of civilization without their subjugation. 
To enter, however, into an exposition of this department 
of zoological science, would be as foreign to our object as 
superfluous in itself, for it has already been a subject of 
careful investigation by others. But there is one view, 
which, so far as we are informed, has not been given by 
any writer. We refer to the distinction which has been 
assigned the bovine tribes in history, from the infancy of 
human society. The ox and his kind have followed man 
in all his migrations. There is scarcely a country in which 
they are not either indigenous or naturalized. And as in 
this we discover the wisdom and benevolence of a design- 
ing Providence strikingly illustrated, it is proposed to throw 
together a few proofs of the fact, as we find them scattered 
in the records of past ages. This, we conceive, will fur- 
nish a profitable subject of contemplation, and, perhaps, not 
inappropriately introduce the volume to the reader. 

It may here, however, be preliminarily remarked, that 
means with reference to ends are everywhere manifested 
in the endless diversities of inanimate matter — also in the 
orders and gradations of animated beings, which appear re- 
ciprocally dependent and necessary to each other. An il- 
lustration of this principle, as manifested in the relation of 
the animal part and the vegetable part of the creation to 
each other through the medium of the atmosphere, is thus ex- 
pressed by Mr. Madison : " It seems now to be well un- 
derstood, that the atmosphere when respired by animals, 
becomes unfitted for their further use, and fitted for the ab- 
sorption of vegetables ; and that when evolved by the latter, 



28 ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE KINGDOMS. 

it is unfitted for the respiration of the former: an interchange 
being thus kept up, by which the breath of life is received 
by each in a wholesome state, and in return for it an un- 
wholesome one. May it not be concluded from this ad- 
mirable arrangement and beautiful feature in nature, that if 
the whole class of animals were extinguished, the use of 
the atmosphere by the vegetable class alone, would ex- 
haust it of its life-supporting power : that, in like manner, 
if the whole class of vegetables were extinguished, the use of 
it by the animal class alone would deprive it of its fitness for 
their support 1" 

If such is the constitution of nature, and these views are 
maintained with great distinctness and ability by Dr. Justa 
Liebig in his late work on organic chemistry, no part can 
be subtracted without disturbing the equilibrium of an ex- 
actly balanced system, and, so far as we know, without 
destroying the whole. Hence the wisdom displayed in 
the adaptation and nice adjustment of the several parts to 
each other ; and also in securing, amidst incessant disrup- 
tions and changes, the continued action of such causes as 
are necessary to preserve that relative proportion of 
things, upon which the stability of the entire fabric depends. 

There is another aspect in which the subject presses it- 
self upon the attention. We are wont to admire the ar- 
rangements of inanimate nature ; but beautiful as these 
appear, when viewed alone, they are without an object. 
In the order of nature, there are undeniable indications 
that this globe was destined to be the abode of living be- 
ings. And when we observe the various classes of irra- 
tional creatures distributed throughout the earth, the air 
and the water, with the fitness of their nature and in- 
stincts to the circumstances in which they are placed, the 
propriety and harmony of the plan is most apparent. But 



EVIDENCES OF DESIGN. 29 

if in preparing the world as the habitation of living crea- 
tures the Maker had chosen to limit his power to the cre- 
ation of insensate brutes, that were utterly incapable of 
understanding the admirable design and symmetry of his 
works, could we have discovered the congruity of the plan 
as we now behold it 1 If it were a mark of folly in man 
to construct a sumptuous palace for the accommodation and 
the unconscious gaze of brutes, can we conceive that such 
an arrangement would be consonant with the manifested at- 
tributes of the Deity 1 The spacious edifice was erected. 
It was garnished with beauty, filled with treasures, and 
" lighted up with unspeakable splendor ;" but there was 
not yet found a suitable occupant. In the creation of man, 
therefore, a rational and contemplative being, of such ex- 
cellence as to be capable of comprehending, in some de- 
gree, the designs of the Almighty Architect, the plan is 
complete. Here is exhibited the fullest exemplification 
of wisdom and benevolence. The work of creation being 
finished, Infallible Wisdom in the survey pronounced it 
" very good." 

One other remark : Whilst these views are in coin- 
cidence with the sacred record, it does not permit us to 
rest here. It is not more certain that man is the chief in- 
habitant of the globe, than that external nature is subser- 
vient to a great moral scheme of which he is the object. 
Little interest is felt in the familiar forms of nature around 
us, although deserving the minutest investigation. Such 
a study, by showing us how little we know, and how in- 
comprehensible is the Being who formed them, would tend 
to draw our reluctant minds to him who is the infinite 
source of all knowledge. But when these common forms 
of matter organic or inorganic, however humble or repul- 
sive, are regarded as parts of a system that are merging 

3* 



30 TENDENCIES OF THESE CONSIDERATIONS. 

their operations in the mysterious and higher order of 
agencies which are connected with the moral condition and 
destiny of men, their importance appears immeasurably 
increased. Invaluable spiritual benefits suited to man's 
fallen stale were early promised, and the means of their ful- 
filment gradually developed until their consummation ; and 
the same designing hand may be also distinctly traced 
in the preservation and perpetuation of the race that was to 
become the recipients of the promised blessings. There is an 
unvarying harmony between the moral and the material econ- 
omy of nature; yet while the former has been the theme of 
unnumbered treatises, how few have regarded the latter in 
this interesting relation, as deserving a careful investigation ! 
Every mind that is familiar with the proofs in sacred 
history of the Divine regard for man's physical condition, 
will at once perceive the relevancy of the foregoing 
thoughts to the subject before us. But as they cannot be 
pursued, in passing we remark, that to overlook the wis- 
dom and beneficence displayed by the Maker of the ma- 
terial world in the relations which he has established be- 
tween it and his rational creatures, is to throw into shade 
some of the brightest perfections of his nature ; whilst to 
contemplate aright his designs in these relations, is fitted 
to inspire reverence, awaken gratitude, invigorate faith, 
and impress upon moral and sentient beings a deeper sense 
of their obligations. — As the leading objects, however, of 
the inspired volume, are to turn man in his ruin and de- 
parture from his Maker to the means of recovery, mate- 
rial things in it hold a subordinate place. But imperfect 
as is our information of particulars, enough has been re- 
corded from time to time to demonstrate that God cares for 
man as a physical as well as moral being, and that he has 
formed all things for one great purpose. 



CHAPTER II. 

PRIMEVAL CONDITION OF MAN. 

Our first knowledge of man. — His food. — Covering. — Condition. — 
Occupation, a hunter. — Early subjection of animals. — Occasion 
of the first use of milk. — The result of design. — Number of the 
domesticated species of animals, not increased by the lapse of 
time. 

Our first knowledge of man, is not a matter of conjec- 
ture, but of inspired history. His first residence was a gar- 
den, planted by the Creator eastward in Eden ; his first 
employment was " to keep it and dress it," whilst he was 
divinely instructed to subsist upon its fruits. After his ex- 
pulsion from paradise his first indispensable want would 
be food ; and his first resource, most probably, such pro- 
ductions of the earth, as without his culture or care would 
yield a spontaneous supply. The choice of these would 
be determined by their relative abundance, and their adap- 
tation to his necessities. Until the use of fire was known, 
fruits would be preferred to herbs and roots, as the latter 
would need artificial preparation to fit them for his ever- 
returning wants. Hence, it is probable, that his first sus- 
tenance after his exile was derived from trees, as we know 
he was guided by his Maker to such a choice before that 
event. 

But covering to protect his body from the immediate 
impressions of the cold and humidity of the atmosphere, 
would be nearly as necessary as aliment. It is written of 
the first pair, " The Lord God made coats of skins and 



32 MAN A HUNTER. 

clothed them." Whence these skins were obtained, does 
not clearly appear. It is certain at that time no animals 
had died, for natural death had not yet entered the world. 
But as sacrifices at this period were appointed, it is proba- 
ble that the skins of the victims which mystically prefigured 
the more perfect atonement, were used for this purpose. 
And having been once thus appropriated by the Creator 
himself, man in his future exigencies would not hesitate 
to apply them to his use. 

Whatever might have been the habits and condition 
of man in his pristine state, we cannot with our knowledge 
of his constitution conclude that he was originally design- 
ed to subsist solely upon vegetable diet. His physical or- 
ganization demonstrates that he is partly at least a car- 
niverous as well as a graniverous animal ; and many cir- 
cumstances conspire to establish the opinion, that a mix- 
ture of animal and vegetable food is best suited for his 
nourishment. For reasons which are not revealed, it ap- 
pears that flesh as food was not explicitly allowed before 
the flood ; but man most probably took the liberty of using 
it, and in doing this, there was evidently no deviation 
from his original nature and destination, as without any 
change in these respects, he subsequently received a divine 
warrant for such use. In following, therefore, the in- 
stincts and propensities of his nature, he at first, most pro- 
bably, became a hunter, and subsisted on the products of 
the forests and the waters, and the fruits of the earth. 
And to this mode of life he was imperatively urged, both 
by the peculiarities of his condition, and his pressing ne- 
cessities. By nature, he is the most helpless and defence- 
less of all animals. The earth at this period, with its verdant 
hills, and vallies, and plains, and interminable forests, was 
an immense solitude whose silence was only broken by the 



EARLY SUBJECTION OF ANIMALS. 33 

prowl of the wild beasts, to whose destructive ferocity he 
was constantly exposed. In a rude state, and with few 
stimulants to industry, man is ever averse to toil. But 
here were motives of sufficient force to overcome his na- 
tive indolence. Food and clothing, but especially self-de- 
fence, would arouse his dormant energies, and excite him 
to activity in the chase. If the quadrupeds merely, to say 
nothing of other destructive animals, had increased in the 
ratio of their original stock, they must have outnumbered 
the human species more than five hundred fold, and threat- 
ened the depopulation of the globe. Motives of benevo- 
lence, therefore, might also incite to an offensive and a 
defensive warfare, and to the destruction of such animals 
as could neither be subdued nor appropriated. Hence we 
learn that the first heroes were destroyers of wild beasts ; 
and being persons of remarkable energy and endowments, 
were ultimately regarded with idolatrous veneration. 
Nearly eighteen hundred years subsequent to the period 
under consideration, the sacred historian says, " Nimrod 
was a mighty hunter before the Lord."* 

But if man was primitively a hunter from necessity, he 
would not from choice be likely to make this perilous and 
precarious mode of life his exclusive dependence. His su- 
perior sagacity, enabling him to subdue the inferior ani- 
mals, the first permanent triumph of his intellect over the 
instinct of brutes, was probably evinced in the domestica- 
tion of such of the larger kinds as were most tractable and 
remarkable for their useful properties. And where in his 
survey of all the subordinate tribes of animated nature 
could his choice be so happily directed as to the ruminant 
animals 1 Essentially herbiverous, they had no occasion 

♦ Ger. 10: 9. 



34 FIRST USE OF MJLK. 

to war upon each other; of course, were distinguished for 
their comparative gentleness and docility; and yielding 
milk, and flesh, and clothing, with ability to labor, they 
were beyond all other quadrupeds endowed with such 
qualities as fitted them for his service. Once the acknow- 
ledged sovereign of flocks and herds, not only would his 
few simple wants be supplied, but he would also be fur- 
nished with many of the comforts and even luxuries of life 
which could be obtained from no other source. 

This early subjection of the bovine tribes of animals, 
introduced the use of milk, which for thousands of years has 
constituted so important and valuable a part of human 
sustenance. Being ready prepared by nature for food, it 
could at once be appropriated by the rudest savage, as 
well as the more cultivated. This peculiarity indeed, in 
an unimproved state of society, before the arts were in- 
vented, and when culinary processes were unknown, was 
in itself sufficient to determine his choice in favor of this 
form of aliment before all other kinds, which required the 
intervention of cookery to fit them for use. 

The first use of milk by man, doubtless grew out of the 
circumstances incident to his condition ; but these circum- 
stances were as certainly the result of design, as was the 
creation of man who was influenced by them. A late 
writer remarks that, "The art of domesticating animals, 
and so completely changing their natures as to efface the 
original type, requires more intelligence than we are 
accustomed to suppose, and it is not easy to conceive how 
the attempt could have been originally suggested. It is 
also very singular that the number of domesticated species 
have not been increased by the lapse of time, though at 
first sight there are many of the untamed animals which 
might seem more easy to be brought into subjection than 



SUBMISSION OF ANIMALS. 35 

those which have been subdued and rendered serviceable."* 
But every difficulty is removed by the consideration, that 
man's dominion over the creatures and consequent appro- 
priation of all they afforded that was available to his use, 
was evidently the fulfilment of an original purpose of 
Providence in its beneficent regard for a being so frail and 
dependent. Hence too the solution of a phenomenon 
otherwise mysterious, and yet so familiar that it ceases to 
attract attention or excite wonder — the instinctive dread 
with which man is regarded by brutes. Before the fall, 
the beasts were, doubtless,voluntarily subject to man ; after 
that event, partaking of the universal degeneracy, they be- 
came ferocious and wild, and by the exercise of his superior 
sagacity as a subsidiary means, were again made subject to 
him. He now commands the fleetness of the horse, and 
the strength of the elephant. So absolute is his authority 
and their submission, that large droves of animals of pro- 
digious strength and stature, stand in awe of a child, who 
unresisted guides them whither he lists. 

* Taylor's Natural History of Society, Vol. I. p. 172. 



CHAPTER III. 

MOSAIC ACCOUNT OF THE INFANCY OF SOCIETY. 

Quadrupeds domesticated before the deluge. — Adam a herdsman or 
shepherd. — Reasons why these pursuits preceded that of agricul- 
ture. — Miraculous preservation of animals at the deluge. — Oc- 
cupation of the ancient patriarchs. — First mention of milk in 
sacred history. — Value of flocks and herds to the ancient 
Hebrews. 

In the succinct account of the primeval ages by Moses, 
which no subsequent authority has been able either to en- 
large or to refute, a particular description of society, of 
animals, and their subjugation, could not be expected ; yet 
enough is related on these subjects to relieve the uncertainty 
of conjecture. 

That ruminant quadrupeds of the genus bos, known in 
rural economy as those of the cow and ox tribe, were do- 
mesticated before the deluge, is most fully attested by the 
sacred historian; and also that the distinction between 
clean and unclean animals, according to their nature and 
instincts, was pointed out, and probably observed. The 
same record which describes Adam and Cain as " tillers of 
the ground," also informs us that " Abel was a keeper of 
sheep ;"* and the inference is reasonable, that the no less 
docile and more serviceable kine and oxen, which in addition 
to the qualities of the former could be employed as beasts 
of draught and burthen, were subject to man at the same 
time. Josephus, who was well versed in the traditional, 

* Gen. 4: 2. 



MAN A HERDSMAN OR SHEPHERD. 37 

as well as the written history of that early age, says that 
"Abel brought milk and the first fruits of his flocks as of- 
ferings to the Creator, who was more delighted and more 
honored with oblations which grew naturally of their own 
accord, than with the inventions of a covetous man whose 
offerings were got by forcing the ground."* Some of the 
oriental nations have a curious tradition about milk, which 
extends back to a still more remote period. They say, 
" that the four rivers of paradise consisted of milk, wine, 
honey, and oil ; and that Adam, who required no susten- 
ance, having drank of the wine and tasted the fruits con- 
trary to the command of God, was driven from the garden, 
and subjected to the punishments which were thus entailed 
upon him and his posterity." But we are not left to draw 
conclusions from doubtful history or uncertain traditions, 
whose origin is obscure and often unknown. We are ex- 
pressly informed that Jabal, the son of Lamach, who was 
born during the lifetime of Adam, was the father of all 
such as dwell in tents, and have much cattle.f Devoting 
his attention to this pursuit, he probably devised methods of 
conducting it to the best advantage, so that he became 
greatly distinguished as a herdsman, and was enabled to 
instruct others ; or his children being brought up in the 
same employment, it became the family occupation. 

The condition of man at this period, would naturally 
invite him to a nomadic or wandering life. In these ear- 
liest ages, before the art of agriculture was known, the 
earth's surface with all its appendages was common pro- 
perty and equally claimed by all. Every inhabitant and 
every family was free to pasture their flocks and herds 
and pitch their tents, wherever fancy might direct, or Pro- 
vidence guide. But this mode of life, would be obviously 
* Book I. p. 9. + Gen. 4: 20. 

4 



38 INTRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURE. 

incompatible with the regular establishment of property in 
territorial surface, consequent upon the pursuits of hus- 
bandry. If the occupations of the herdsman and shepherd 
were not identical, it is at least probable, that they were 
cotempoi aneous in their origin, and that both were antece- 
dent to the pursuits of agriculture. The cultivation of 
the soil implies a knowledge of working metals and of va- 
rious arts, which were doubtless unknown at a very early 
period. Besides, " such is the fascination of that personal 
independence which belongs to the uncivilized state, and 
such the disrelish and contempt of the monotonous labor of 
tillage, compared with the exciting occupations of the 
chase, or with the indolence enjoyed by those who subsist- 
chiefly on the mere bounties of nature, or on their migra- 
tory flocks, that a voluntary relinquishment of these latter 
modes of life, is little to be expected. We certainly per- 
ceive nothing in the character of our savage neighbors, 
from which it could be inferred that even the germs of 
agriculture observed in their spots of maize, and a few 
other cultivated plants, would ever be developed into the 
extent implied by an agricultural life. The first introduc- 
tion of agriculture among a savage people, appears accord- 
ingly never to have taken place without some extraordinary 
interposition ; where it has not been obtruded by colonies 
transplanted from agricultural countries, as from Phoenicia 
and Egypt into Greece, and from Greece herself, among 
her savage neighbors, the revolution has proceeded from 
some individual, whose singular endowments and superna- 
tural pretensions, had given him an ascendency for the 
purpose. All the great reformers in ancient times, were 
regarded as more than men, and eventually worshipped as 
gods."* Reasoning, therefore, from analogy, and our know- 
* Pre?. Madison. 



PRESERVATION OF ANIMALS AT THE DELUGE. 39 

ledge of the habits of man in a rude state, there is strong 
probability in the conclusion, that the simpler occupation 
of tending flocks and herds was his employment soon after 
his expulsion from Eden, and long anterior to the more 
complex and laborious operation of cultivating the earth. 

Of all the quadrupeds domesticated before the flood, the 
ruminant tribes were incomparably of the highest and most 
essential value to the human race. Their importance to man, 
was strikingly intimated by the special care which was 
manifested for the preservation and the propagation of the 
species. By Divine appointment, seven couple of clean 
animals were taken into the ark ; whilst of others, but one 
couple, the male and his female. In many of the opera 
tions of Providence, the design is concealed from human 
view ; but here it is so perspicuously displayed that it can- 
not be mistaken. By miraculous power certain species of 
animals are preserved from the abyss of waters in seven- 
fold greater numbers, than of others. Need we inquire 
wherefore this special interposition and indication of Divine 
favor 1 It certainly was not on account of the animals 
themselves, but evidently with prospective reference to the 
wants of the future families of man. " Doth God take 
care for oxen ?"* was the inquiry of the inspired Paul; and 
from his own response we learn, that this care was alto- 
gether for man's sake. 

After the catastrophe of the deluge, the population of 
the world was again reduced to one family ; and the 
original grant of dominion over the kingdom of nature to 
man was not only renewed, but extended and establish e 
by a solemn covenant for " perpetual generations." Dr 
Robertson lays it down as a certain principle, that the 
necessary arts, when once introduced among a people can 
* 1 Cor. 9:9. 



40 OCCUPATION OF THE ANCIENT PATRIARCHS. 

never be lost, and that the dominion over inferior animals 
when once enjoyed, will never be abandoned. Most pro- 
bably the useful arts, and the general habits of life of the 
antediluvians would be possessed and preserved by the few 
who survived the universal ruin ; and it is not likely that 
the subjection of animals so essential to their own wants 
and to their rapidly increasing offspring, would afterwards 
be neglected. Noah accordingly became a husbandman, 
and planted a vineyard ;* and during the patriarchal ages, 
and subsequently in the rural economy of the Israelites, the 
possession of cattle constituted the chief portion of their 
wealth. It is recorded of Abraham and Jacob that they 
were rich in cattle ;f Job, who was probably cotemporary 
with Isaac, because of his numerous flocks and herds was 
counted the greatest of all the men in the East. J Moses 
was a shepherd, and kept the flocks of Jethro in the land of 
Midian ;§ such also was the occupation of David, who tend- 
ed his father's sheep in Bethlehem, and when elevated to 
regal dignity, his flocks and herds were intrusted to the 
management of three officers appointed for that purpose.|| 
The herds of many of the patriarchal shepherds were im- 
mensely great. So numerous was the stock of Abraham 
and Lot, that they were obliged to separate. From the 
present made by Jacob to his brother Esau, consisting of 
five hundred and eighty head of different sorts.1T some idea 
may be formed of the countless numbers of cattle great and 
small, which he had acquired in the service of Laban. 

Although the only certain history of the early ages no- 
where explicitly asserts that animal milk, as human suste- 
nance, was used soon after man's exile from Eden, or even 
anterior to the flood, yet we regard the evidence that such 

* Gen. 9: 20. t Gen. 24: 35. 30: 43. t Job 1: 3. § Ex. 3: 1. 
II 1 Chron. 27: 29, 31. IT Gen. 23: 14, 15. 



FIRST MENTION OF MILK IN SACRED HISTORY. 41 

was the case, about as conclusive as positive testimony. 
We certainly know that the mammiferous ruminant quadru- 
peds, that is, animals which yield milk, chew the cud, 
part the hoof, designated by the same name, possessing, 
in short, all the essential and distinguishing attributes and 
properties which belong to the bovine tribes of our own 
day, were early subdued ; and the supposition, either that 
these animals yielded no milk, or that it was unappropria- 
ted by man, would directly conflict with all known facts 
and analogies in the case, and is too improbable to be 
admitted. But subsequent to the obscure and remote an- 
tiquity referred to, sacred history on the subject is clear, 
and sufficiently explicit. About 1900 years before the 
Christian era, Abraham, who was an emir or chief of a 
pastoral tribe, received a visit of angels, in the plains of 
Mamre. According to the sacred narrative, " He lifted up 
his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him : and 
when he saw them," with the simplicity characteristic of 
ancient hospitality, " he ran to meet them from his tent- 
door, and bowed himself towards the ground," and said, 
" My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not 
away, I pray thee, from thy servant." He then instructs 
Sarah to prepare the bread, while he goes in person to se- 
lect the best calf from the herd, " and he took butter and 
milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before 
them," who in his presence partook of the refreshment, 
beneath the shade of a tree near the door of his tent. 
The great abundance of milk, and the high estimation in 
which it was held, may be inferred from the frequent meta- 
phorical use which was made of the term in the sacred 
writings. Palestine was described as a land " flowing with 
milk and honey," thereby denoting its extraordinary fer- 
tility in producing all the comforts and necessaries of life ; 

4* 



42 HEBREW FLOCKS AND HERDS. 

whilst the terms " wine and milk" were used to express 
all kinds of spiritual blessings and privileges. 

The great importance attached to flocks and herds, 
may also be inferred from the numerous laws and regulations 
in relation to them laid down by Moses in the domestic his- 
tory of the Hebrews : and it is evident that they were 
valued not merely for their milk, fleece, and flesh, but also 
for their labors. From the earliest times, the hopes of the 
oriental husbandman depended upon the services of oxen. 
When Elisha received the mantle of Elijah, the former 
was in the field, " ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen be- 
fore him, and he with the twelfth." Very frequent allu- 
sion is made in Scripture to the importance and variety of 
their labors. So indispensable were they regarded in the 
days of Solomon, that he declares in one of his proverbs, 
" Where no oxen are the crib is clean," or rather empty ; 
" but much increase is by the strength of the ox." 



CHAPTER IV. 

PASTORAL LIFE INDUCED THE FIRST CONNECTED CONDITION OF 
SOCIETY. 

Influences of pastoral life.— Patriarch shepherds. — Their wealth 
and power. — Flocks and herds how managed — Their numbers. — 
Scriptural allusions to pastoral occupations. — Spread of the hu- 
man family from Ararat, — Antiquiy of domestic; animals, 
shown by ancient coins and medals. — Animals issuing from the 
ark. — Distinction conferred on the bovine race. 

The subject is so inwoven with the manners, civil polity, 
and even history of the different people to which it 
refers, that a passing notice of them in this hasty sketch 
appears unavoidable. The pastoral life in ancient times, in- 
duced the first connected state of society, and led to the 
adoption of the patriarchal form of government. When 
the numbers under one head or family became too great to 
subsist together, they separated ; the seceding body pur- 
suing in other distant and unappropriated territories, their 
roaming and independent life, and in turn sending out from 
themselves other erratic tribes to feed their stocks in the 
rich pastures of the unreclaimed regions still more remote. 
Sometimes by accident, and sometimes by compact or com- 
pulsion, the union of separated tribes was effected, and 
they became extremely formidable, especially as the leader 
was absolute, he could put himself at the head of the whole 
people. Hence the origin of the Hycsos, or shepherd kings, 
a nomadic people, who conquered the greater part of Egypt, 
and held it from 1,700 to 1,500 years B. C. ; and who, ac- 



44 PATRIARCHAL SHEPHERDS. 

cording to Manetho, overrun many nations, but were finally 
subdued by Tethmosis, king of Thebes. 

" The patriarchal shepherds," says Watson," rich in flocks 
and herds, and attended with numerous trains of servants, 
acknowledged no superior; they held the rank and exercised 
the rights of sovereign princes; they concluded alliances 
with sovereign kings, in whose territories they tend- 
ed their flocks; they made peace and war with surrounding 
states; and in fine, they wanted nothing of sovereign au- 
thority but the name. Unfettered by the cumbrous ceremony 
of regal power,they lived a plain and laborious life in per- 
fect freedom and overflowing abundance. Refusing to con- 
fine themselves to any particular spot, they lived intents, and 
removed from place to place to find pasture for their cattle. 
Strangers in the countries where they sojourned, they re- 
fused to mingle with the permanent settlers, or occupy their 
towns, or to form with them one people. They were con- 
scious of their strength and jealous of their indepen- 
dence ; and although patient an forbearing, their conduct 
proved on several occasions that they wanted neither skill nor 
courage to vindicate their rights and avenge their wrongs." 
" In the wealth, the power, and the splendor of 
patriarchal shepherds, we discover the rudiments of regal 
grandeur and authority ; and in their numerous and hardy 
retainers, the germ of potent empires. Hence the early 
custom so prevalent among the ancients of distinguishing 
the office and duties of their kings and princes by terms 
borrowed from the pastoral life : — Agamemnon, shepherd 
of the people, is a phrase frequently used in the strains of 
Homer. The royal Psalmist, on the other hand, celebrates 
under the same allusions the special care and goodness of 
God towards himself, and also towards his ancient people. 
The Lord is my shepherd ; I shall not want. Give ear, O 



SCRIPTURAL ALLUSIONS TO PASTORAL OCCUPATIONS. 45 

Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock ;* 
thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth. In 
many other places of Scripture, the church is compared 
to a fold, the saints to a flock, and the ministers of reli- 
gion to shepherds, who must render at last an account of 
their administration to the Shepherd and Overseer to whom 
they owe their authority." 

The patriarchs did not commit their flocks and herds 
solely to the care of menial servants and strangers ; they 
tended them in person, or placed them under the superin- 
tendence of their sons and daughters, who were bred to 
the same laborious employment, and taught to perform, 
without reluctance, the meanest services. This primeval 
simplicity was long retained among the Greeks. This cus- 
tom has descended to modern times ; for in Syria the daugh- 
ters of the Turcoman, and the Arabian shepherds, and in 
India the Brahmin women of distinction, are seen draw- 
ing water at the village wells, and tending their cattle to 
the lakes and rivers. 

We fiave already alluded to the immensely numerous 
flocks and herds of the ancient shepherds. In modern times, 
also, the numbers of cattle in the Turcoman herds which 
feed on the fertile plains of Syria, are almost incredible. 
They sometimes occupy three or four days in passing from 
one part of the country to another. A man of wealth in 
a Tartar horde has been known to possess ten thousand 



* The ancient shepherds used to go before their flocks, playing 
on the pipe, which call they readily followed. To this custom Virgil 
alludes in the following lines : 

Nor breathed Amphion notes more soft than mine, 
When he on Aracynthus call'd his kine. 

Allusion to the same custom is frequent in the sacred writings. 



46 SCRIPTURAL ALLUSIONS TO PASTORAL OCCUPATIONS. 

horses, three hundred camels, four thousand cattle, twenty- 
thousand sheep, and upwards of two thousand goats.* 

The care of such overgrown flocks, says Paxton, re- 
quired many shepherds. They were of different kinds ; the 
master of the family and his children, with a number of 
herdsmen who were hired to assist them, and felt hut little 
interest in the preservation and increase of their charge. 
To these the Saviour alludes, John 10 : 12. In such exten- 
sive pastoral concerns the vigilance and activity of the 
master were often insufficient for directing the operations 
of so many shepherds, who were not unfrequently scattered 
over a considerable extent of country. An upper servant 
was therefore appointed over their labors, and to take care 
that his master suffered no injury. In the house of Abra- 
ham this honorable station was held by Eliezer, a native 
of Damascus, a servant in every respect worthy of so great 
and good a master. The office of chief shepherd, as be- 
fore remarked, is often mentioned in classic writers ; and in 
pastoral countries, being one of great trust, of high respon- 
sibility, and of distinguished honor, it is with great propri- 
ety applied to the Redeemer by the Apostle Peter : " And 
when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a 
crown of glory which fadeth not away." The same allu- 
sion occurs in these words of Paul : " Now the God of 
peace that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus 
Christ, that Great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood 
of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every 
good work to do his will." 

Without dilating on particulars, it may be observed, that 

what was true of the ancient Hebrews, the peculiarly favored 

people of heaven, whose line of ancestry and history has 

been so remarkably preserved, is probably also true with 

* Glasgow Geo, Vol. I. p. 578. 



SPREAD OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 47 

certain modifications in regard to the general modes of life, 
of most other branches of the human family. In the re- 
peopling of the earth after the deluge, as the inhabitants 
increased they appear to have spread southward from the 
mountains of Ararat, near the Caspian sea, to the plains of 
Assyria and Chaldea; and in the fertile regions bordering 
the rivers which run into the Persian Gulf, laid the foun- 
dations of the most ancient empires. Thence some re- 
treated again northward of Armenia into Tartary ; some 
eastward towards Persia and Hindoostan ; and others dis- 
persed west and southwest through Arabia into Egypt, 
and through Syria and Palestine to the shores of the Me- 
diterranean. The early history of all these except the 
latter, it is true, is involved in deep obscurity ; but from the 
period of authentic information and sober tradition, it ap- 
pears that the ox and cow kind have accompanied man in 
all his migrations. 

As much light has been incidentally thrown on the 
antiquity of domestic animals, especially of the kind under 
consideration, by a careful study of ancient coins and 
medals, we cannot wholly omit the mention of them in 
this place. 

Caucasus, is the name of a chain of mountains in west- 
ern Asia, of which Ararat, where the ark rested, is a part ; 
the names of Taurus and Ararat are general over the whole 
range, and denote nearly or altogether the same as Cau- 
casus. Now it is very remarkable that the devices on the 
medals of most of the ancient cities and countries around 
the mountains of Caucasus, have the bull as the prevailing 
emblem ; Caucasus itself, appears to be generally com- 
memorated under the name Taurus, the bull, either alone, 
or united with other symbols. By an examination of the 
extremely ancient and instructive memoranda referred 



48 ANIMALS ISSUING FROM THE ARK. 

to, the medals, the origin of the name is deduced, from 
the account of which the subjoined is an abstract. 

" If we consider the animals as issuing from the ark on 
the mountain, and of what transactions it was the scene in 
consequence, we may see why the name of Taurus was 
given to it. The word Taur in many languages signifies 
a bull : it is so in Spanish, French, etc., at this time : it 
was so in Latin, Greek, Arabic, etc., and above all, as be- 
ing most ancient, it was so in Chalclee ; which language 
was little distant in time or place from the first settlement 
of Mount Taurus. To account for this name, observe first, 
that Noah on coming out of the ark sacrificed to God, no 
doubt a young bull or beeve, as the most acceptable offer- 
ing in his power: so the place of sacrifice might be de- 
nominated from the first offering. Second ; as Noah was 
ar agriculturist, and of pastoral manners, no doubt he kept 
around him all the valuable domestic animals he possibly 
could ; these he cherished, these he multiplied, these he 
employed, while the ferocious kinds he banished far 
away. 

" Now, among domestic animals the beeve claims the 
first place ; and for this reason, very credibly, this was 
called the ' mountain of the bull,' or beeve ; and it was 
also as appears commemorated under the figure of a bull ; 
though possibly sometimes under that of other domestic 
animals. The number of animals whose nature renders 
them companions to mankind, is not very great. There is 
the beeve, the goat, the sheep, the swine, the horse, and, 
perhaps, the elephant and camel ; I say, perhaps, because 
the elephant could not breed in a mountainous region, 
neither could the camel walk upon crags; and the swine, 
though domestic, is unclean. 

■' Such," continues our author, "are the chief pastoral 



DEVICES ON COINS AND MEDALS. 49 

riches of mankind ; and such were the pastoral riches of 
Noah. From these must have descended whatever breeds 
afterwards ranged other parts of the earth; and the moun- 
tain on which these first swarmed, seems to have been 
typified by the figure and appeliatioa of some one or more 
of them, while other parts of the same range of mountains, 
to which the savage creatures were exiled, were typified by 
figures and appellations of them; as the lion, the tiger, etc., 
among beasts ; the eagle, etc., among birds. And in like 
manner, as one part of these mountains might derive its name 
from the bull, or beeve, so might other parts from the lion, 
or from the eagle. So Jupiter had the eagle, because he- 
resided on or about Eagle Mountain, or in a district called 
' the Eagle ;' which is the Garoora-sthan of the Bramins. 
Dionysius had the bull; Cybele had lions; Venus had 
doves, etc. From a desire of uniting these into extremely 
expressive symbols, arose the combination of figures into 
unnatural forms: as a bull with a human form; meaning 
i bull mountain,' with the man who resided on it, and gov- 
erned it; this composes the minotaur, i. e., menuhtaur, the 
taur or bull of Menuh."* There is, indeed, a wonderful 
coincidence of testimony not only to prove the antiquity of 
the bovine quadrupeds, but also that wherever man's con- 
dition has been advanced beyond absolute barbarism, his 
attention has generally been occupied with the management 
of flocks and herds, whose skins and fleeces have yielded 
him covering, while their milk and flesh have afforded him 
sustenance. Pastoral pursuits appear to have constituted 
the transition state from that of the savage to agricultural 
employments, and to the introduction of the arts of civiliz- 
ed life. 



Calmer, Vol. V. p. 189. 
5 



CHAPTER V. 

TESTIMONY OF PROFANE HISTORY TO THE ANTIQUITY AND 
UTILITY OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 

Catlle in Egypt. — In Greece. — In Scylhia. — In Ancient Rome. — 
In ^Ethiopia and Lusitania. — Idolatrous veneiation of cattle. — 
Indian, Egyptian and Roman cattle. — Consequences of the Roman 
conquests. — Pursuits of society during the " D;.rk Ages." — Cattle 
in France, Britain, &c. — Different opinions of naturalists. — Ori- 
ginal race of cattle. — Varieties of the European cow. — Diversity of 
qualities in the cow family. — Indian and Tartar cattle. 

Egypt was distinguished as a mighty empire, and for 
its improvement in the arts, within four or five centuries 
after the flood ; and though unsuited for pasturage, which 
the inhabitants affected to despise, when Abraham sojourned 
in that country, one hundred and eighty years before there 
is any mention of the horse, Pharaoh presented him with 
sheep and cattle. And we learn that at a subsequent period 
the monarch of that country had considerable herds ; for 
being informed by Joseph that his brethren were shep- 
herds, the king said, " If thou knowest any men of activity 
among them, make them rulers over my cattle."* Still 
later than this, Moses stipulated that not a hoof belong- 
ing to the Israelites should be left in Egypt ; the very in- 
stitution of the passover lamb, implied the general posses- 
sion of flocks. Pharaoh's dreams of the kine also prove 
that the Egyptians were acquainted with the management 
of cattle ; for it is said that the seven " well-favored and 
fat-fleshed " kine which he saw w r ere fed on the achu, 

* Gen. 47: 6. 



TESTIMONY OF PROFANE AUTHORS. 51 

that is, the succulent water-plants of the Nile, and not "in 
a meadow," as it is rendered in our version.* 

The general views that have been presented, are fully 
confirmed by profane writers. Hesiod, one of the oldest 
poets of Greece, who flourished in the ninth century before 
the Christian era, praises the pastoral occupation, and re- 
ferring to ages antecedent to his own times, speaks of the 
high honor in which it was anciently held. According to 
some accounts he was himself a shepherd, and tended his 
flock at the foot of Mount Helicon, in Bceotia. Homer, who 
is supposed to have been cotemporary with Hesiod, fre- 
quently mentions milk and cheese as common articles of 
food ; they are also often alluded to by Theocritus, Eu- 
ripides and other poets. Butter was probably unknown in 
Greece before the time of Herodotus, who lived in the fifth 
century B. C, as he is the earliest profane historian whose 
works have come down to us that mentions it. 

Among the families that were dispersed abroad by the 
confusion of tongues, those who migrated northward, and 
afterwards known as the Scythians, were the most remark- 
able. Carrying with them the habits of pastoral life to 
which they had been accustomed in the more genial re- 
gions of the south, and coming in possession of a limitless 
extent of territory, stretching from the northern shores of the 
Euxine and Caspian seas, to the frozen regions of the north, 
they appear to have led wandering lives, living in tents, 
and devoting their attention to the rearing and management 
of cattle.f Hippocrates, who was nearly cotemporary with 
Herodotus, in his account of the Scythians, describes with 
great minuteness their process of butter-making, and highly 
commends milk, as a most healthy and nourishing food. 

"See Bible Illustrated, p. 44. t Herodotus. 



52 CATTLE IN ANCIENT ROME. 

Aristotle, distinguished as the father of natural history, 
lived about one hundred years afterwards. In his book on 
animals, he describes the characteristics of some of the ru- 
minant tribes with great judgment and accuracy; and from 
the many curious particulars relating to milk and cheese 
collected by him, it may be fairly inferred, that the impor- 
tance of these, as articles of human sustenance, was in his 
age duly appreciated. 

Ancient Rome was built by rude hunters and herdsmen. 
Romulus, its founder, 754 years B. C. traced a furrow round 
the Palatine hill with a plough drawn by two milk-white 
cattle, and caused the area within the furrow to be inclosed 
with a wall of earth ; he then poured out libations of milk 
to propitiate the gods. Eight hundred years afterwards 
Pliny relates, that the devotional offering of milk, in com- 
memoration of the custom of their fathers, was still con- 
tinued. Anciently in Rome these animals were so highly 
valued, that they were only slaughtered on extraordinary 
occasions ; and it is recorded of a citizen who slaughtered 
one of his own cattle for the entertainment of a guest, that he 
was, by the popular vote, banished the state. The cattle 
most esteemed in Italy,* according to Pliny, and which com- 
manded the highest price, were imported from Epirus, a 
breed said to have been greatly improved by the celebrated 
king Pyrrhus, who was extremely curious in his knowledge 
of domestic animals. Several eastern nations are referred 
to, by the same writer, whose inhabitants subsisted upon 
milk and the spontaneous productions of the earth ; and 

* Timens, a Greek author, and Varro,both cited by Aulus Gellius, 
(Noct. Attic, lib. ii. cap. 1.) have said that Italy was so called from 
the abundance of oxen in it, which in the ancient Greek language 
were called <ruAo( : whence Gellius affirms that llalia signifies ar- 
mentosissima. 



IDOLATROUS VENERATION OF CATTLE. 53 

who so managed their stocks, as to secure an abundant 
supply of milk throughout the year. Strabo gives substan- 
tially the same account of the ^Ethiopians, Lusitanians, and 
other oriental people, among whom milk was one of 
the chief means of subsistence. Virgil, as is well known, 
devoted his third Georgic to the subject of breeding cattle, 
and his Eclogues abound throughout with allusions to pas- 
toral life. Apicius and some other writers of that day 
appear to have made the qualities of milk a subject of 
special inquiry. Both Columella and Varro, in their trea- 
tises De Re Rustica, give due prominence to this important 
department of rural economy, as then understood and prac- 
tised by the most civilized nations. So far, indeed, as we 
can learn, the semi-barbarous countries of these periods, as 
in preceding ages, chiefly pursued pasturage, and subsisted 
upon the produce of their flocks. Such, according to the 
Roman writers, was the condition of the ancient German, 
and other European nations ; such were the habits of the 
early Britons, as given by Caesar in his Commentaries, who, 
he says, neglected the plough, undervalued husbandry, and 
lived upon the milk and flesh of cattle, a description which 
at that time was doubtless capable of very general appli- 
cation. 

The superstitious, and even idolatrous regard for ani- 
mals of this species, in many nations, is well known. 
Taurus, the bull, was deified, and his constellation placed in 
the zodiac. The same animal was worshipped as the god 
Apis, in Egypt, and dedicated to Osiris, to whom was as- 
cribed the origin of agriculture ; and from this, it is sup- 
posed by some, the Greeks derived the minotaur, and also 
the Israelites the idea of the golden calf they modelled and 
worshipped in the wilderness. At Heliopolis, divine hon- 
ors were paid to Mnesis, under the form of the ox, while 

5* 



54 CONSEQUENCES OF THE ROMAN CONQUEST. 

the cow was consecrated to Isis. The Zor Aster, or sacred 
bull, appears to have been worshipped in some way, 
throughout Egypt. The Brahminy, or sacred bull of the 
Hindoos, rambles about the country without interruption; 
he is caressed and pampered by the people, to feed him be- 
ing deemed a meritorious act of religion.* So great is the 
veneration of the Gentoos for the cow, that they would 
rather sacrifice their parents or children, than slay one of 
them. The traditions also of different nations, fomded 
doubtless upon the universally acknowledged utility of the 
animal, invest it with peculiar honors. The Indians say 
thatit w r as the first animal created by the three kinds of gods, 
who were directed by the Supreme Lord to furnish the 
earth with animated beings. And the traditions of every 
Celtic nation, it is said, enrol the cow amongst the earliest 
productions, and represent it as a kind of divinity .f 

The causes which operated to the extension of the Ro- 
man arms over the greater part of the inhabited earth, 
also powerfully tended to ameliorate the condition of hu- 
man life by the improvements in agriculture, the domes- 
tication of animals, and by the invention of numerous use- 
ful arts. In Italy, in Greece, in the middle and southern 
countries of Asia, in Egypt, in the northwest parts of Africa, 
even in Gaul and Spain, agriculture was diligently prac- 
tised, and the husbandry of tillage and pasturage was cul- 
tivated so as to afford abundance of the prime necessaries of 
life. Nor were these benefits limited by the bounds of the 
Roman empire; they were gradually, but in some degree, 
very extensively diffused among the savage nations beyond 
these limits, so that a larger proportion of the human race 
participated in the advantages incident to civilization, than 
in any previous age. 

* Hamilton's Descript. of Hindostan. t Youatt's History of Cattle. 



THE DAKK AGES. 55 

But a period of retrogression at length arrived, that 
steadily kept pace with the decline and ultimate subver- 
sion of the Roman power, and which plunged Europe in 
nearly as deep a gloom as that from which it had been pre- 
viously rescued. From this era onward, for ten successive 
centuries, we know hut lii tie, except that the arts were for- 
gotten, agriculture was abandoned or extensively neglected, 
and anarchy and degeneracy universally prevailed. 

' : Oblivions ages pass'd, while earth, forsook 
By her best genii, lay, to demons foul, 
And unehain'd furies, an abandoned prey." 

During these ages of predial servitude and feudal ra- 
pacity, the *toil of the many was appropriated to the few j 
and it was natural, when the great springs of enterprise and 
industry were broken, for men to sink back into the ignor- 
ance and indolence of savage life. Besides, in disturbed 
times, when there is continued exposure to the incursions 
of predatory hordes, every man is trained to arms, and of ne- 
cessity adopts unsettled habits of life corresponding there- 
with. Hence, during what have been called the "dark 
ages," the assiduity of the sober and industrious relaxed, and 
pasturage was generally preferred to tillage; for while few 
would sow without the rational prospect of being able 
to reap 5 the management of herds invited to a more cer- 
tain pursuit, as, on the approach of an enemy, they could 
with less difficulty be concealed or driven away. 

In France, before the ninth century, as we learn from 
the perusal of their laws, cattle and sheep were pastured in 
the forests and commons, with bells about the necks of 
several of them, for their more ready discovery. At the 
arrival of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain, that island abound- 
ed with flocks and herds, which these conquerors seized 



56 ORIGINAL RACE OF CATTLE. 

and pastured for their own use. This appears from the 
great number of laws made in Anglo-Saxon times, for 
regulating the prices of all tame cattle, for directing 
the manner in which they were to be pastured, and for 
preserving them from thieves and beasts of prey. The 
Welsh, even still more than the Britons, depended upon their 
flocks and herds for support. In Lombardy, they excelled 
in the care and treatment of cattle ; while the wealth and 
subsistence of the Swiss farmers consisted, as at the pres- 
ent clay, in the number of their cows, and sheep and goats.* 

On the introduction of civilization into Europe, the 
rearing of animals suited to the objects of rural economy, 
was not neglected, although but little progress was made 
in the extraordinary art of improving the breeds, until the 
last century. 

With regard to the origin of the domesticated races on 
that continent, there is a diversity of opinions. No certain 
facilities now exist of tracing the present breeds to the 
primitive stock. Some naturalists suppose them to have 
sprung from the bosbubalus, the Indian and European buf- 
falo. Others again would trace them to the aurochs or 
wild cattle of Germany and Poland ; but these, according 
to Major Smith's arrangement, come into subgenera differ- 
ent from the domestic breeds. Baron Cuvier rejects both 
the foregoing suppositions, and we think with sufficient 
reason. He considers our present cattle identical with a 
species no longer existing in a wild state, but which have, 
by the exertions of man, as in the instance of the camel 
and dromedary, been for ages entirely subjected to his 
power. The remains of this animal has been found in a 
fossil state, and it is upon the comparison of these remains 

" Loudon's Enc. Agri. 



VARIETIES OF THE EUROPEAN COW. 57 

with the skeleton of the auroch, the buffalo, and cur do- 
mestic races, that he has founded his opinion.* 

Whatever may have been the original race of ani- 
mals, from which the domestic breeds are derived, it is 
generally conceded that some varieties of the European 
cattle are, in almost all parts of the world, the only kinds 
used, and, indeed, the only varieties that to any great ex- 
tent have yet been found capable of domestication. They 
have extensively spread throughout Europe; in north and 
south Africa they have multiplied to innumerable herds, 
and such also is the case in America, particularly in the 
southern continent. 

" The varieties of the European cow," according to 
Aiton, " are innumerable. The pliancy of their nature is 
such, that they have been formed into many diversities of 
shape, and various qualities have been given them, very dif- 
ferent from the original stock. The uris, or cows of Lithu- 
ania, are almost as large as the elephant, while some of those 
of the Grampian hills are little above the size of a goat : 
and cows are found of every diversity of size between the 
one and the other. They are not less varied in their shapes. 
The bison, which is a species of the cow family, and 
which readily propagates with our cows, wears a long 
shaggy mane, like the lion ; a beard, like the goat ; as 
much hair under its neck and breast as covers its forelegs; 
a hump upon its shoulders, nearly as large as that worn by 
the camel (sometimes forty or fifty pounds in weight), 
with a tail that scarcely reaches the top of its buttock; 
and it resembles the lion much more than our domesticated 
cows, or other varieties of its own species. 

" The diversity of qualities in the cow family, is also 

* Jarcline's Mammalia, Vol. IV. p. 194. 



58 INDIAN AND TARTAR CATTLE. 

very great. Our cows are so grovelling and inactive, they 
scarcely know the road from their stall to their pasture ; 
while those of the Hottentots are so tractable, as to be in- 
trusted with the charge of other animals, and keep them 
from trespassing on the fields of grain, or other forbidden 
ground. They also fight their master's battles, and gore 
his enemies with their horns. Our dairies are so feeble and 
inactive, that they hurt by travelling twice a day, even 
slowly, one mile from the byre to their pasture ; while 
those of Tartary are used as riding animals, and in drawing 
carriages. Those of Hindostan draw and maintain their 
rates with horses at the full trot ; and the Hottentots teach 
their cows to hunt down the elk antelope. Cows of the 
wild neglected breed can with difficulty be removed from 
one inclosure, or one hill to another ; while those on 
whom due attention has been bestowed are docile, and sub- 
mit to all kinds of labor. Some cows will yield upwards 
of twenty Scots pints of milk per day, w 7 hile others will not 
give so much in ten, perhaps not in twenty days. These 
are not so many different species of animals, but all of 
them one and the same species, and all of them capable 
of generating with each other a perfect offspring. All 
these varieties have been formed from the parent stock, 
partly by the diversity of soil and climate, or other acci- 
dental or adventitious circumstances ; or partly of late by 
human skill and industry."* 

Pliny mentions a breed of Indian cattle, in his time, 
that were as tall as the camel, and whose bulk was pro- 
portioned to their height. At the present day, " the largest 
domestic breeds known, are those of the Kirguise and Cal- 
muck Tartars, and those of the Roman States. The color 

* Dairy Husbandry, p. 17. 



INDIAN AND TARTAR CATTLE. 59 

is generally of a bluish-ash, the horns remarkably ample 
and spreading. In Egypt, a large white breed was main- 
tained ; and in northern and central Africa, according to 
Major Denham, two varieties at present exist, both humped 
like some of the Indian breeds, the one with small horns, 
the other of a large size with immense horns, one which 
was measured being three feet six inches and a half in 
length, following the curve, and twenty-three and a quarter 
in circumference. Upon the banks of Lake Tchad, and 
in the kingdom of Bornou, these cattle were kept in great 
abundance."* 

* Jardine's Mammalia, Vol. IV. p. 194. 



CHAPTER VI. 

INFLUENCE OF EDUCATION ON CATTLE THEIR INTRODUCTION 

INTO AMEK1CA, ETC. 

Training cattle in central Africa. — Superior intelligence of CafFre 
cattle illustrated. — Swiss cattle, anecdotes of. — Proofs of bovine 
sagacity. — Attachment to their keepers — Transportation of cat- 
tle from the Canaries and Europe t'q South America. — Anecdote 
vl their sagacity. — Introduction of cattle into New-England. — 
Bulls used for riding. — Clark's Island.— Importation of cattle to 
the middle states. — Cattle asa source of national wealth.— Import- 
ance of this species of animals. — Summary conclusion. 

In no other kind of animals, perhaps, is the effect of 
education more strikingly exemplified than in that of cat- 
tle. In some countries, they are as remarkable for intelli- 
gence and activity, as amongst us for stupidity and slug- 
gishness. Burchell, in the first volume of his travels into 
the interior of Africa, p. 128, gives the following descrip- 
tion of the training of cattle in that country. 

" These oxen are generally broken in for riding when 
they are not more than a year old. The first ceremony is 
that of piercing the nose to receive the bridle: for which 
purpose they are thrown on their back, and a slit is made 
through the septum, or cartilage between the nostrils, large 
enough to admit a finger. In this hole is thrust a strong 
stick, stripped of its bark, and having at one end a forked 
bunch to prevent it passing through. To each end is fast- 
ened a thong of hide, of a length sufficient to reach round 
the neck and form the reins ; and a sheepskin, with the 



TRAINING CATTLE. 61 

wool on, placed across the back, together with another 
folded up, and bound on with a rein long enough to pass 
several times round the body, constitutes the saddle. To 
this is sometimes added a pair of stirrups, consisting only 
of a thong, with a loop at each end, slung across the sad- 
dle ; frequently the loops are distended by a piece of wood, 
to form an easier rest for the foot. While the animal's 
nose is still sore, it is mounted and put in training, and in 
a week or two is generally rendered sufficiently obedient 
to its rider. The facility and adroitness with which the 
Hottentots manage the ox, has often excited my admira- 
tion : it is made to walk, trot, or gallop, at the will of its 
master ; and being longer legged, and rather more lightly 
made than the ox in England, travels with greater ease 
and expedition, walking three or four miles in an hour, 
trotting five, and galloping on an emergency seven or 
eight." 

Among other travellers, Major Denham gives the fol- 
lowing particulars relating to the use of cattle in central 
Africa. " The beasts of burden used by the inhabitants, 
are the bullock and the ass. A very fine breed of the lat- 
ter are found in the Mandara valleys. The bullock is the 
bearer of all the grain and other articles to and from the 
markets. A small saddle of plaited rushes is laid on him, 
when sacks made of goat-skins, and filled with corn, are 
lashed on his broad and able back. A leather thong is 
passed through the cartilage of his nose, and serves as a 
bridle, while on the top of his load is mounted the owner, 
his wife, or his slave. Sometimes the daughter or the 
wife of a rich Shouaa will be mounted on her particular 
bullock, and precede the loaded animals, extravagantly 
adorned with amber, silver rings, coral, and all sorts of 
finery." 

6 



62 CATTLE IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 

" It is, however," says Youatt,* " in the southern part 
of Africa that the triumph of the ox is complete. His in- 
telligence seems to exceed any thing that we have seen of 
the horse, and he is but little inferior to that most sagacious 
of all quadrupeds, the dog. Among the Hottentots, these 
animals are their domestics, and the companions of their 
pleasures and fatigues ; they are both the protectors and 
the servants of the Caffre, and assist him in attending his 
flocks, and guarding them against every invader. While 
the sheep are grazing, the faithful backely, as this kind of 
oxen is called, stands and grazes beside them. Still at- 
tentive, however, to the looks of its master, the backely 
flies round the field, obliges the herds of sheep that are 
straying to keep within proper limits, and shows no mercy 
to robbers who attempt to plunder, nor even to strangers; 
but it is not the plunderers of the flock alone, but even the 
enemies of the nation that these backelies are taught to 
combat. Every army of Hottentots is furnished with a 
proper herd of these creatures, which are let loose against 
the enemy. Being thus sent forward, they overturn all 
before them; they strike down with their horns, and tram- 
ple w T ith their feet, every one who attempts to oppose 
them, and thus often procure their masters an easy victory 
before they have begun to strike a blow." 

An animal so serviceable is, as may be supposed, not 
without its reward. The backely lives in the same cottage 
with its master, and by long habit gains an affection for 
him ; for in proportion as the man approaches to the brute, 
so the brute seems to attain even to the same share of 
human sagacity. The Hottentot and his backely thus mu- 
tually assist each other ; and when the latter happens to 

* Youatt's Breeds of Cattle, p. 5. 



ANECDOTES OF SWISS CATTLE. 63 

die, a new one is chosen to succeed him, by a council of 
the old men of the village. The backely is joined with 
one of the veterans of his own kind, from whom he learns 
his art, becomes social and diligent, and is taken for life 
into human friendship and protection.* 

Every one who is familiar with cattle, must have ob- 
served that some one in the herd usually takes the lead of 
the others, and if deprived of its rank, either by accident 
or otherwise, will manifest great uneasiness until it is 
again restored. We would hardly attribute to these ani- 
mals a sense of vanity or wounded pride, yet the following 
amusing account of the Swiss cows seems to illustrate such 
a feeling. 

" In the Swiss canton of Appenzell, pasturage being 
the chief employment of the inhabitants, the breeding of 
cattle and the subsequent management of the dairy, are 
carried to great perfection. The mountaineer lives with 
his cows in a perpetual exchange of reciprocal acts of 
kindness ; the latter affording almost every requisite he 
needs, and in return they are provided for, and cherished 
by him, and sometimes more so than his own children. 
They are never ill-treated nor beaten, for his voice is suffi- 
cient to guide and govern the whole herd, and there reigns 
a perfect cordiality between them. 

" In the Alps, the fine cattle are the pride of their 
keepers, who adorn the best of them with a harmonious 
set of bells, chiming in accordance with the celebrated 
rana des vaches. The finest black cow is adorned with the 
largest bell, and the two next in appearance wear smaller 
ones. Early in the spring, when they are removed to the 
Alps, or to some change of pasture, he dresses himself in 

* Illustrations of Natural History, p. 88. 



64 ANECDOTES OF CATTLE. 

all his finery, and proceeds along, singing the rans des 
vaches, followed by three or four fine gnats ; next comes 
the finest cow, adorned with the great bell ; then the other 
two with the smaller bells, and these are succeeded by the 
rest of the cattle walking one after another, and having in 
their rear the bull with a one-legged milking-stool on his 
horns, while the procession is closed by a sledge bearing 
the dairy implements. 

" It is surprising to see the pride and pleasure with 
which the cows stalk forth when ornamented with their 
bells. One would hardly imagine that these animals are 
sensible of their rank, and affected by vanity and jealousy ; 
and yet if the leading cow is deprived of her honors, she 
manifests her disgrace, lowing incessantly, and abstaining 
from food, and losing condition. The happy rival on 
whom this badge of superiority has devolved, becomes the 
object of her vengeance, and it is butted, and wounded, 
and persecuted by her, in the most furious manner, until 
she regains her bell, or is entirely removed from the 
herd."* 

We take pleasure in transcribing from Youatt's excel- 
lent work on cattle, the following illustrations of bovine 
sagacity. " First, maternal affection, mixed with a pro- 
cess of reasoning : — A person was walking through a 
field, when a cow ran towards him, lowing most piteously. 
For a moment he was alarmed, and the suspicion of mad- 
ness occurred to him ; but when she came near to him, she 
turned and went back the way she had come, looking ear- 
nestly at him and lowing. He wondered, but passed on. 
Again she came close to him, gazed anxiously at him, and 
then lowing, trotted away in the same direction. His cu- 

* Illustrations of Natural History, p. 73. 



ANECDOTES OF CATTLE. 65 

riosity was now roused, and he followed her. She led him 
to the farther end of the field, where her calf had fallen 
into the ditch, and was nearly drowned. He rescued the 
little animal, and the mother expressed her joy in many 
an awkward but expressive gambol. 

" Next, attachment to their keepers : — Two biparies, 
or carriers of grain and merchandise on the backs of buf- 
faloes, were driving a loaded string of these animals from 
Palamow to Chittrah. When they were come within a 
few miles of the latter place, a tiger seized upon the man 
in the rear, which was seen by a guallah (herdsman) who 
was watching a herd of buffaloes grazing. He boldly ran 
to the man's assistance, and cut the tiger very severely 
with his sword, who immediately dropped the biparis, and 
seized the herdsman. His buffaloes observing it, attacked 
the tiger, and rescued the herdsman ; and they tossed the 
tiger about from one to the other until they killed him. 
Their aid, however, was ineffectual ; for although the bipa- 
rie recovered, the herdsman died."* 

Anecdotes illustrative of the intelligence and reasoning 
faculty in these animals might be multiplied, but those 
already given are sufficient to show, that they are not only 
endowed with a measure of intellect which fits them for 
their humble station, but are also capable of exercising a 
degree of social affection in our service, which should se- 
cure for them far better treatment than they often receive. 

Cattle appear to have been first transported to South 
America from the Canaries and Europe in 1527, and the 
rapidity with which they multiplied, almost exceeds belief. 
A few years after the Spaniards settled there, the herds of 
tame cattle became so numerous, that their proprietors 

* Youatt, p. 2SG. 

6* 



66 INTRODUCTION OF CATTLE INTO SOUTH AMERICA. 

counted them by thousands. Valdeobro, a Dominican 
Spaniard, who lived some years in Mexico towards the 
middle of the last century, relates as a fact then generally 
known, that the cows belonging to D. G. Ordugna, a pri- 
vate gentleman, yielded him in one year thirty-six thou- 
sand calves, which produce could not arise from a herd of 
less than two hundred thousand bulls and cows taken to- 
gether. At present there are many private persons who 
are owners of herds of fifty thousand head of cattle.* Less 
attention being paid to them as they continued to increase, 
they were suffered to run wild, and spreading over a coun- 
try of boundless extent, under a mild climate, and covered 
with rich pasture, their number became immense. They 
range over the vast plains which extend from Buenos 
Ayres towards the Andes, in herds of thirty or forty thou- 
sand ; and the unlucky traveller who once falls in among 
them, may proceed several days before he can disentangle 
himself from among the crowd that covers the face of the 
earth, and seems to have no end. They are hardly less 
numerous in New Spain, and in several other provinces. 
They are killed merely for the sake of their hides ; and the 
slaughter at certain seasons is so great, that the stench of 
their carcases, which are left in the field, would infect the 
air, if large packs of wild dogs, and vast flocks of gallina- 
zos, or American vultures, the most voracious of all the 
feathered kind, did not instantly devour them.* 

Acosta states that in the fleet in which he returned 
from New to Old Spain, in 1587, about sixty years after 
the first bulls and cows had been transported to Mexico, 
they carried with them from that country, sixty-four thou- 
sand three hundred and sixty ox-hides ; and from Hispan- 

* Gobiemo de Animates, Lib. IV. cap. 34. 
t Robertson's America, Vol. IV, p, 68, 



MULTIPLICATION OF CATTLE IN SOUTH AMERICA. 67 

iola alone thirty-five thousand four hundred and forty-four 
ox-hides. Abbe Clavigero observes, that if the number of 
cattle carried from the old continent to the new, was com- 
pared with the number of hides returned by America to 
Europe, there would be found more than five millions of 
hides for every one of these animals. But nothing can 
show the astonishing multiplication of those quadrupeds 
so well as the cheapness of them in those countries in 
which they are necessary for the subsistence of man, and 
the labors of the field, and where, on account of the abun- 
dance of silver, every thing is sold dear. In the country 
around the city of Mexico, although it is well peopled, a 
pair of oxen for the plough are sold for ten sequins, and 
bulls by wholesale at forty-five paoli each. In the coun- 
try round Guadalaxara, the capital of New Galicia, a pair 
of good oxen are worth from six to seven sequins,* a cow 
twenty-five paoli. In many other countries of that king- 
dom, those animals are sold for less. In many places of 
the provinces on the river of Plata, a cow is to be had for 
five paoli. According to an account obtained from a per- 
son of credit well acquainted with the provinces on the 
above river, the oxen which are in herds amount to about 
five millions in number, and it is computed that there are 
about two millions running wild in the woods. In short, 
horned cattle have multiplied in Mexico, Paragua, and 
other countries of the southern continent, more than in any 
other part of the world.f The exportation of their hides 
and horns is a lucrative branch of commerce at this day. 

As the following incident related by a South American 
traveller exhibits the sagacity of cattle in another and an 
interesting point of view, it may not be here misplaced. 

* The sequin is ahout two dollars, and a paola ten cents. 
t Clavigero's Hist, Mexico, Vol. III. p. 232. 



68 ANECDOTES OF BOVINE SAGACITY. 

" I was suddenly," says Captain Cochran, " aroused by a 
most terrific noise, a mixture of loud roarings and deep 
moans, which had the most appalling effect at so late an 
hour. I immediately went out, attended by the Indians, 
when I found close to the rancha, a large herd of bullocks 
collected from the surrounding country. They had encom- 
passed the spot where a bullock had been killed in the 
morning, and they appeared to be in the greatest state of 
grief and rage. They roared, they moaned, they tore the 
ground with their feet, and bellowed the most hideous 
chorus that can be imagined ; and it was with the greatest 
difficulty that they could be driven away by men and dogs. 
Since then I have observed the same scene by daylight, 
and seen large tears rolling down their cheeks. Is it in- 
stinct merely, or does something nearer to reason tell them 
by the blood that one of their companions has been 
butchered 1 I certainly never again wish to view so pain- 
ful a sight : — they actually appeared to be reproaching us."* 

As the first introduction of cattle, and consequently the 
commencement of an important branch of husbandry in 
this country, is specially mentioned in the history of the 
pilgrim settlers, a few particulars can scarcely fail to be 
interesting. 

In 1624, that is, four years after the arrival of the 
Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, " Edward Winslow, having 
been sent to England as an agent for the colony, on his 
return brought three heifers and a bull, which were the 
first neat cattle brought to Plymouth. The settlers, of 
course, had been destitute of milk, the first four years. In 
1630, there was another importation of twenty-eight cows, 
but ten were lost at sea. In 1624, Mr. James Shirley, 

* Travels in Colombia, Vol. II. p. 251. 



INTRODUCTION- OF CATTLE INTO NEW ENGLAND. 69 

merchant of London, and one of the adventurers, a warm 
friend to the pilgrims, gave a heifer to the plantation, to 
begin a stock for the poor. Fourteen years afterwards, 
that is, in 1638, the townsmen of New Plymouth met, at 
the governor's call, the inhabitants from Jones' river to 
Eel river, respecting the disposition of the stock of cows 
given by Mr. Shirley. The amount of stock, we are in- 
formed, was very considerable, and a respectable commit- 
tee was appointed to dispose of the same. 

" The first notice of horses on record is in 1644, when a 
mare belonging to the estate of Stephen Hopkins was ap- 
praised at<£6 sterling. In 1647, in the inventory of Thomas 
Bliss, a colt was appraised at .£6 sterling. In 1647, in the in- 
ventory of Thomas Bliss, a colt was appraised at <£4 sterling. 
In Joseph Holliway 's inventory, the same year, one mare and 
a year old colt were appraised at <£14. In June, 1657, the 
colony court passed an act that every freeholder who kept 
three mares, and would keep one horse for military ser- 
vice, should be freed from all military service, training and 
watching. While destitute of horses, it was not uncom- 
mon for people to ride upon bulls; and there is a tradition, 
that when John Alden went to Cape Cod to be married to 
Priscilla Mullens, he covered his bull with a handsome 
piece of broadcloth, and rode on his back. On his return, 
he seated his bride on the bull, and led the uncouth ani- 
mal by a rope fixed in the nose-ring. This sample of 
primitive gallantry would ill compare with that of Abra- 
ham's, when by proxy he gallanted Rebecca on her jour- 
ney, with a splendid retinue of damsels and servants seated 
on camels, Isaac going out to meet her. Had the ser- 
vants employed bulls instead of camels, it may be doubted 
whether Rebecca would have been quite so prompt in ac- 
cepting his proposals. As soon as the question was put, 
Rebecca said, ' I will go,' 



70 CATTLE A SCOURGE OF 

"The island in Plymouth harbor, called Clark's Island, 
contains little more than eighty acres of fertile land. It 
was upon this island that the first Christian Sabbath was 
kept in New-England, for it was the first resting-place of 
the pilgrims from amidst the storm which they encountered 
on the night of Friday, Dec. 18th, 1620, while coasting 
along the bay in their little shallop, before their final land- 
ing. These circumstances may have led our fathers to 
attach a superstitious reverence to this spot. It was nei- 
ther sold nor allotted in any of the early divisions of the 
lands, but was reserved for the benefit of the poor of the 
town, to furnish them with wood, and with pasture for 
their cattle."* 

It does not appear that cattle were imported into the 
middle states, as they are now known, until a few years 
after their introduction into New-England. In 1625, De 
Laet, in describing the advantages of New-Netherlands 
(New-York) for colonization, says : " It is a fine and de- 
lightful land, full of fine trees and also vines ; wine might 
be made here, and the grape cultivated. Nothing is want- 
ed but cattle, and these might be easily transported." 
Among other inducements to the introduction of these 
animals into the colony, in 1629, by an act of the govern- 
ment, " liberties and exemptions" were extended to private 
persons who should plant colonies in New-Netherlands, or 
import thither any neat cattle. What effect this encour- 
agement had on individual enterprise, does not clearly ap- 
pear ; but in 1632, some stock that had been sent by the 
company from Holland to the city of New -York, were pas- 
tured on the " Bouwery Farms," which had then been re- 
cently purchased from the Indians, and the management 
of the cattle was intrusted to the company's negroes for 

* Vide Thatcher's History of Plymouth. 



NATIONAL WEALTH. 71 

the benefit of the garrison. In 1630, a vessel commanded 
by Capt. De Vries, embarked from Texel with about forty 
immigrants, furnished with agricultural implements, seeds, 
horned cattle, &c, sailed up the Delaware, and commenced 
a settlement on the banks of that river, which from that 
period has been remarkable for the extent and excellence 
of its dairies* 

It is not our design, neither would it be in place in a 
work of this kind, to attempt, if practicnble, a statistical 
computation of the advantages resulting to mankind from 
the domestication of this animal. It will probably suffice 
to remark, that from the introduction of cattle into this 
country, a little more than two centuries ago, the number, 
as we learn by careful estimate, has multiplied in the 
United States to about eighteen millions ; the annual pro- 
duct of the dairies is valued at sixty-five millions of dollars; 
and the hides, tallow, &c, as manufactured articles, amount 
to twenty millions of dollars. Of the value of the cattle 
slaughtered for the provision trade and domestic consump- 
tion, we have no official returns, nor yet for the horns, hair, 
feet, &c, for there is no part of the animal that is not con- 
vertible to some useful purpose ; but estimating these, as 
we safely may, at fifteen millions of dollars, and we have 
from this source alone an annual contribution to the na- 
tion's wealth of at least one hundred millions of dollars. 
But this it will be seen is an extremely defective estimate 
of all the advantages thus conferred upon the country. 
To the aggregate already given, let there be accredited to 
this branch of rural economy, the stimulus it imparts to 
profitable industry in the rapid circulation of capital, — the 
materials it furnishes for commercial intercourse, — the em- 

* Moulton's History of New- York. 



72 ECONOMICAL VALUE OF CATTLE. 

ployment it gives to numerous manufactories and trades, 
and incidentally to artificers and laborers, — and last, but 
not least, the extent to which it furnishes the millions of 
the population with those indispensable necessaries of life, 
of which they would be destitute but for this supply, — and 
every reflecting mind will acknowledge, that whether con- 
sidered as a source of national wealth, or as contributing 
to the necessities and comforts of private life, there are few 
objects which have superior claim to attention, or of great- 
er subservience to the public weal. 

Of this class of animals an accomplished zoologist re- 
marks : " It is scarcely necessary to say, that they supply 
us with the most truly precious of our earthly gifts. What 
in themselves are ingots of pure gold, or the most dazzling 
lustre of barbaric gems, compared in value with the ample 
covering of our fleecy flocks 1 Without the ox, the horse, 
and the sheep, how different would be the social, com- 
mercial and political condition of the most civilized of the 
human race ! Without his reindeer how would the forlorn 
Laplander support either ' his sleepless summer of long, 
long light,' or the desolate gloom of a snow-enshrouded win- 
ter ? Without the enduring camel, the desert sands of Africa, 
if notl ifeless solitudes, would at least be nearly impassable to 
human race, and as useless for all commercial purposes, as 
an ocean without ships." 

But we must close this part of our work, which has 
insensibly increased to an unexpected length. In the de- 
sultory account which has been given of this herbiverous 
race of animals, it will have been observed that no attempt 
has been made to follow their migrations from country to 
country ; nor yet to describe their changes as these have 
been affected by food, climate and habits ; for there 
are no authentic records which can be consulted for 



ECONOMICAL VALUE OF CATTLE. 73 

this purpose. Without enlarging we think it sufficiently evi- 
dent, that the animals now reared and domesticated, are 
the same in kind, as those originally made subservient to 
man in the earliest times. And in nothing is the benev- 
olence of Providence more remarkable, than in the conti- 
nuity and multiplication of a race of animals, which in all 
former ages, as at present, has so largely contributed to 
increase the happiness of man, and improve the resources 
of human subsistence. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF MILK. 

Design of milk, its properties and appropriation. — Kinds of milk 
used in different countries. — Superior value of cow's milk. — 
Its appreciable qualities. — Color of good milk. — Smell and taste. 
— Alkaline property. — Summary description of good milk. 

Milk is a well-known, white, opaque fluid, secreted in 
peculiar vessels by females of the mammiferous class, which, 
of course, includes those of the human species, of quad- 
rupeds, and of cetaceous animals. Its principles, so far as 
they have been chemically examined, are essentially alike 
by whatever animal produced ; yet these are so modified 
by the different proportions in which they exist, as to con- 
stitute a peculiarity that distinguishes the milk of one ani- 
mal from that of every other. The milk of animals was, 
doubtless, designed by the Author of nature for the nour- 
ishment of their offspring. But man has extensively appro- 
priated this admirably adapted nutriment to his own use ; 
and in this, as in numberless other instances, has asserted 
that superiority over the brute creation which was origi- 
nally conferred by the Sovereign Creator, who in giving 
him dominion over every living thing that moveth upon 
the earth,* appointed him lord of this lower world. 

The milk of animals is more generally used as aliment 

by man, than any other description of animal food. That 

of the camel is chiefly confined to Africa and China, and 

of the mare to Tartary and Siberia. In China, especially 

* Gen. 1 : 28. 



VALUE OF COW'S MILK. 75 

about the city of Canton, no other milk, it is said, can be 
obtained but that of the sow ; while in India, the milk of 
the buffalo is preferred to that of the domestic cow. In 
Lapland and in some other northern countries, the milk of 
the reindeer is highly valued and extensively used. Goat's 
milk is more generally used in Italy and Spain, than in 
other countries in Europe. The animals are driven into 
Leghorn, Florence, Madrid and other towns in flocks early 
in the morning, and milked in the streets.* Ewe's milk is 
gradually wearing out of use. We will hereafter exam- 
ine the relative peculiarities of these different kinds of 
milk. 

But the milk of the cow {lac vicinvm) forms a very 
essential part of human sustenance ; and for several rea- 
sons is deserving of special consideration. It is the best and 
most palatable aliment for the young ; it is suited to nearly 
every variety of temperament ; and is adapted to the nour- 
ishment of the body in every age and condition. Being 
most abundant and in general use, it holds a very impor- 
tant place both in domestic economy and in medical di- 
etetics. It should, therefore, be the siudy of the professed 
guardians of health, and of those intrusted with the 
management of infancy ; it deserves the vigilant inspection 
of the public authorities in our large cities; and, indeed, 
the careful attention of all who acknowledge an interest 
in the health, and happiness, and well-being of their race. 
In order to arrive at a competent knowledge of its nature 
and properties, we propose to confine our observations and 
analysis chiefly to the milk of the cow. Previous, how- 
ever, to a chemical investigation, there are a few particulars 
appreciable to the senses, which deserve a passing notice. 

• Loudon's Enc. Agr., p. 1037. 



76 COLOR OF COW'S MILK. 

I. Color. Milk, fresh drawn from the cow, should be 
of a beautiful w T hite color, slightly tinged with yellow. It 
has the deepest color at the commencement of the period 
of lactation ; but this is often varied by the seasons and by 
food without materially affecting the nutrient and healthy 
properties of the milk. The juicy herbage of the pastures 
in the spring brightens the yellow tint, which gradually 
fades as the fields become arid and the season advances ; 
and the dry fodder of winter produces milk comparatively 
white. The ranunculus, or butter-cup, with which 
some pastures abound, imparts not only an unusually deep 
color to the milk, but also an acrid property which is ex- 
tremely pernicious.* The milk of cows which are fed 
on distillery slops, brewers' grains, the refuse of kitchens, 
and similar food, owing to a deficiency of the oily and al- 
buminous principles, is generally of a pale bluish color, 
and comparatively innutritious ; as is also the milk of 
cows confined in pens, although supplied with proper 
herbaceous aliment. The white, opaque appearance of 
milk, is obviously owing to the curd or albumen which it 
contains ; for when this substance is perfectly separated 
from the milk, the serous residuum becomes colorless and 
transparent as water.f 

II. Smell. Although taste and smell are different 
senses, and employ different organs, they are so closely 
connected, that the impression made on the one, in many 
instances produces a corresponding excitement in the 

* Whitlaw's Materia Medica, p. 175. 

+ The color of milk can be modified by mixing saffron or madder 
with the food, the odt>r may be affected by various cruciferous and 
alliaceous plants, the taste may be altered by the u*e of bitters, as 
•wormword, &c. ; and the medicinal effect may be influenced by the 
administration of drugs. — Pereira's Materia Medica, Part II. p. 1407. 



SMELL AND TASTE OF GOOD MILK. 77 

other. It is thus with milk, which may be said to smell as 
it tastes. Good milk, has a peculiar annualized aroma, 
which is very pleasant, especially when new. By expo- 
sure to the atmosphere, it loses this odor in some degree, 
but the application of heat will restore it. The grateful 
and savory smell of milk, is often destroyed by certain 
kinds of food. In the case of cows confined in stables, and 
fed with the refuse of the distilleries, the milk is generally 
rank and nauseating. 

III. Taste. The taste of milk is peculiar, slightly sac- 
charine, and of a rich agreeable flavor. But this, of course, 
is affected by particular descriptions of food. Bank grass, 
noxious weeds, acid apples, sorrel, a plant of the genus 
rwnex, which is found in many pastures, turnips, cabbage, 
wild-garlic, distillery slush, fetid water,* &c, will, when 
taken by the cow r s, impart their peculiar flavor to the 
milk ; as will also impure utensils and the atmosphere of 
filthy rooms or pens where it is milked and allowed to 
stand. Milk of inferior quality is insipid, often somewhat 
acid or bitter, and unpleasant to the palate.f 

IV. Good milk is slightly alkaline. This is too impor- 
tant a characteristic to pass unnoticed, and we are not 
aware that it has been observed by any previous writer. 
This quality is not perceptible to the taste, but is readi- 
ly discovered by litimus paper, or any other vegetable 
blue which will detect acesency. If the color of the paper 

* It is found by experience that the milk and butler of cows which 
drink fetid water, has a very bad taste winch plainly shows that 
the water retains its putridity when mixed wiih the blood and milk. 
—Vide Phi. Trans. Vol. XLIX. p. 345. 

f In autumn the decayed leaves, particularly of the ash tree, com- 
municates a rank and bitter taste to milk. The poisonous quality of 
the leaves of the yew tree, should prevent its growth in or even near 
to such grounds as are used for pastures. 

>7* 



78 GOOD MILK SLIGHTLY ALKALINE. 

remains unchanged when dipped into fresh drawn milk, it 
has alkaline properties ; but if the paper becomes red, the 
milk has a predominance of acidity. We would not 
hastily deduce conclusions from, perhaps, too limited a 
range of experiments. But personal observations have in- 
duced the conviction that the alkaline property, in some 
degree, is essential to healthy milk, and is the unfailing 
characteristic of the fluid secreted by animals that are in 
healthy condition and properly kept. On the contrary, 
where the natural conditions of the cattle have been revers- 
ed, the milk, as shown by appropriate tests, was as uni- 
formly acid. We have not known an exception to this 
rule. It would appear, therefore, that these results could 
scarcely become general, except on the supposition that 
they happen in accordance with established laws. 

The characteristics of good milk, are thus summarily 
described in a valuable English work recently published. 
Good milk should be quite liquid and homogeneous ; not 
viscid ; and should contain only spherical transparent glo- 
bules, voluble in alkalies and ether; should not become 
thick when mixed with ammonia ; and should form a 
flocculent precipitate w r ith acetic acid, but not be coagu- 
lated with heat.* 

* Pereira's Materia Med. Part IT. p. 1408. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ANALYSIS AND CONSTITUENTS OF COW'S MILK. 

Microscopical examination of milk. — The specific gravity of vari- 
ous kinds. — Difference of quality. — Specific gravity, how affected. 
— Analysis of several kinds of milk. — Constituents of milk. — Its 
elementary principles. — I. Cream — its specific gravity and consti- 
tuents. — How resolved into butter. — Insoluble in spirits of wine, 
&c. — II. Curd — how formed. — Effect of heat on milk. — Coagu- 
lable by acids. 

The appearance of milk is so well known, it scarcely 
requires a more minute description than that already given.* 
It boils and congeals at nearly the same degrees of tem- 
perature as water. Being slightly viscid, its consistence 
should be such that a drop will preserve its roundness. 
Pliny says good milk will not run off the nail. Its aver- 
age specific gravity, is about 1.030, whilst that of blood 

* The following additional particulars may possess too title in- 
terest for the general reader, but will doubtless be valued by the sci- 
entific inquirer. 

Milk subjected to a microscopical examination, is observed to 
consist of myriads of globular particles, floating in a serous liquid. 
These globules are exceedingly minute ; according to Raspail (Chem. 
Organ.) the diameter of the largest does not exceed in siz.e 0.0003937 
(about l-2500th of an inch). They instantly disappear by solution 
on the addition of a drop of caustic alkali. Both Donne (Lond. 
Med. Gaz XXV. 302) and Sir A. Cooper (on the anatomy of the 
breast, 1840) have separated the globules by repeated filtration. 
The filtered liquor was transparent. The milk globules consist es- 
sentially of butter. Donne denies that they contain any caseum, 
since they are soluble both in alcohol and ether, which do not dis- 
solve caseum.— Pereira's Mai. Med. LoDd. 1840, Part II. p. 1407. 



Woman's 


Milk . 


Cow's 


c< 


Goat's 


u 


Mare's 


u 


Ass's 


a 


Ewe's 


u 



80 SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF MILK. 

is about 1.052, water being 1. Brisson, whose authority on 
this physical property of bodies stands high, has given the 
following as the specific gravity of the milk of different 
animals. 



1.0203 
1.0324 
1.0341 
1.0346 
1.0355 
1.0409 



Our experiments do not agree with the above results. In 
some kinds of milk, we have observed important variations. 
The specific gravity of woman's milk, for example, is stated 
by Brisson to be 1.0203, and cow's milk, 1.0324. The ave- 
rage of numerous examinations of woman's milk, made at 
different periods of lactation, we found to be 1.027, and the 
highest of cow's milk 1.030. If these results be established 
by subsequent examinations, human milk resembles cow's 
milk more closely than has generally been apprehended. 
In that case the propriety of largely diluting the latter milk, 
as is the custom, when used for the nourishment of young 
infants, may justly be questioned. 

It will be seen, however, from the foregroino- results, 
that the milk of different animals, has each a specific gravity 
peculiar to itself; and it is found that the milk of the same 
animal is not, in this respect, uniformly the same, but is 
varied by numerous causes which affect the proper and 
healthy condition of the milk. The milk of cows which 
have insufficient or innutricious aliment, or of those which 
are kept in an unnatural state and fed on the refuse of the 
distilleries, or any other improper and unwholesome food, 
has uniformly an excess of aqueous fluid, and is of little spe- 



CONSTITUENTS OF MILK. Ol 

cific gravity. The adulteration of milk, as is frequently- 
practised, by the addition of starch, sugar, plaster of Paris, 
and various other ingredients, will necessarily increase its 
density ; it is not possible, therefore, always to infer the 
quality of milk from the indications merely of a specific 
gravity instrument. 

The subjoined is a recent analysis of several kinds of 
milk, published by M. M. 0. Henry and Chevallier : Journ. 
de Pharm. Tom. XXV. p. 340. 



Constituents. 


Cow. 


Ass. 


Woman. 


Coat. 


Ewe. 


Caseum 


4.48 


1.82 


1.52 


4.02 


4.50 


Butter 


3.13 


0.11 


3.55 


3.32 


4.20 


Sugar of milk 


4.77 


6.08 


6.50 


5.28 


5.00 


Various salts 


0.60 


0.31 


0.45 


0.58 


0.68 


Water 


87.02 


91.65 


87.98 


86.80 


85.62 


Total 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 


100.00 



Solid matter 12.98 8.35 13.00 13.20 14.38 

Cow's milk deprived of its cream (cremor lactis) accord- 
ing to Berzelius, consists of 

Water 928.75 

Curd with a little cream 28.00 

Sugar of milk . . 35.00 

Muriate of potash 1.70 

Phosphate of potash "25 

Lactic acid acetate of potash with a trace of lactate of iron 6.00 

Earthy phosphates "30 

1000.00 

Milk being apparently analogous in its properties to the 
chyle of mammiferous animals, and admirably suited in its 
natural state to repair the waste of life, the opinion for a 
.ime prevailed that it required no assimilation; and that 



82 CREAM AND CURD. 

when introduced into the stomach, it was taken up by the 
absorbents and thrown into the blood unchanged. Mr. 
Clark, member of the Royal Irish Academy, in a disser- 
tation upon the subject, defends this position so far as it re- 
lates to human milk, with great plausibility ; and we have 
not seen it disproved. But in all other cases where milk 
has been examined, it has been found to coagulate, suffers a 
decomposition, and is subjected to the same processes in the 
stomach as other aliments. When first obtained from the 
animal it is apparently an uncombined or simple fluid ; but 
it is found to consist of an admixture of three staminal prin- 
ciples which, so far as we know, are essential to all milk, 
viz. an oleaginous, a saccharine and a caseous or an albu- 
minous, imperfectly combined, and suspended in an aqueous 
medium. The fluid is readily separated into curd, cream, and 
whey ; and each of these being compounds of organization, 
are by chemical agents reducible to their ultimate elements. 
It is proposed to consider each of these compounds sepa- 
rately in the order suggested. 

I. Cream. When milk is allowed to stand, a thick, 
unctuous, yellow substance soon rises to the surface, which 
gradually thickens by exposure to air, and is called cream. 
This, when carefully separated from the milk, contains an 
animal oil, a caseous matter, and a limpid fluid denominated 
whey. The specific gravity of cream, was found by Ber- 
zelius to be 1.024; and its contituents to consist of, 

Butter 4 5 

Cheese 3.5 

Whey 92.0 

100.0 

W T hen violently agitated by the familiar process of churn- 
ing, the fluid oily matter by combining, according to some 



€URD. S3 

chemists, with the oxygen of the atmosphere, becomes con- 
crete, and the cream is resolved into butter, which is solid 
at a natural heat; and butter-milk, that partakes of the 
properties of the milk before the butter was taken from it 
In three or four clays the cream becomes solidified, so that 
it will not pour. In eight or ten clays more, its surface is 
covered with a mouldiness or a muculent substance with the 
pungent odor of fat cheese. 

Cream is found by experiments to be insoluble inspirits 
of wine, or oils. At boiling heat, oily matter in small por- 
tions rises to the surface ; but in this way the oil is with dif- 
ficulty separated from the caseous matter. Many of the 
properties of cream are analogous to oil. It is unctuous to 
the taste and touch, leaves a greasy stain on cloth like oil, 
and like it becomes rancid by exposure and age. Cream, 
then, is the oil of milk in combination with a caseous sub- 
stance, and serum or whey. 

II. Curd {lactal bumen). If milk is exposed for some 
time at a temperature of about 65 or 70 degrees, lactic ac d 
is developed, and coagulation spontaneously takes place. By 
this process, the milk is separated into two parts ; the one, 
the concreted portion or caseous, is, as is well known, deno- 
minated curd ; the other, the fluid, as before remarked, is 
called whey. Curd, before the whey is expressed, is a sort, 
grayish white, semi-transparent mass, and when fresh agre - 
able to the taste, nearly inodorous, and somewhat elastic 
When the moisture is chiefly expelled by percussion and 
pressure, the curd becomes opaque and brittle, and for a 
time retains its agreeable flavor- If all the moisture is <l s- 
sipated by evaporation, it forms a semi-pellucid substance 
like gum, is not readily subject to change, and by incineration 
yields phosphate of lime. But particles of oil and serum 
being interposed between the particles of caseous matter, oil 



84 CURD, HOW FORMED. 

exposure to the air it softens, becomes acid and acrid, 
assumes various hues, and exhales a very disagreeable 
odor. In passing to the putrefactive process a soapy com- 
pound is constituted by the union of acetate of ammonia 
with the oleaginous matter, and the substance is dissolved. 

Milk will not coagulate by boiling so as to separate 
the curd in mass; but this process forms a pellicle or thin 
skin on the surface, which has all the properties of curd. 
If the scum is removed others succeed, and if the boiling is 
continued, all the coagulable matter may in this way be 
abstracted. If the scum is allowed to accumulate, it sinks, 
and coming in contact with ( the vessel where the heat is great- 
est, it becomes browned and imparts a disagreeable flavor to 
the milk. A free infusion of sugar or gum, or of any neu- 
tral salt into boiling milk, will cause it to coagulate.* 

All acids, both vegetable and mineral, will coagulate 
milk, as will also alkalies both fixed and volatile; but the 
action of these opposite principles in producing the same ul- 
timate result, is marked by circumstances peculiar to each. 
The curd, for illustration, produced by vinegar, falls to the 
bottom of the vessel, and the whey has the appearance of 
that which has been separated by spontaneous coagulation. 
If pearlash is used, the curd, in the form of a thick, 
tough skin, rises to the surface, and the whey assumes a 
greenish appearance. If acids and alkalies are simulta- 
neously introduced into the milk, they neutralize each 
other to a greater or less degree, and no coagulation ensues. 
But these substances possessing opposite energies in relation 
to each other, it is found that the coagulum formed by 
acids, is broken down by alkalies; and when formed by 
alkalies, it may be redissolved by acids ; but the intimate 

* Thompson's Chem., Vol. IV. p. 387. 



FORMATION OF CURD. 85 

combination of the parts having been disturbed, in neither 
case is the milk restored to its original appearance and 
properties. Alum, fixed sal ammoniac, green and blue vit- 
triol, sugar of lead, &c, will curdle milk, as will also most 
other of the middle salts, the basis of which is an earth or a 
metallic body. All astringent vegetables will have the like 
effect, as the flowers of the thistle and the artichoke,* and 
many other substances which have a strong affinity for 
water, such as molasses, gelatin and alcohol. But an in- 
fusion of the inner membrane of the fourth stomach of the 
calf is preferred by dairymen, and is usually employed for 
this purpose ; for it produces more white coagula, and with 
greater speed and certainty than most other substances, and 
will not, as many of them do, re-dissolve it. 

* Scheele, II. 52. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ANALYSIS AND CONSTITUENTS OF MILK CONTINUED. 

Properties of curd. — Soluble caseum how obtained. — Combination 
of curd with mineral acids. — Analysis and constituents of curd. — 
Its ultimate elements. — III. Whey. — Its appearance and proper- 
ties. — Sugar of milk. — Processes of obtaining it. — Its proper- 
lies — Muriates of potash and soda. — Phosphate of lime, how 
separated. — Gelatin, &c, &c. 

The properties of coagulum appear to remain the same, 
whatever be the means employed to obtain it. That, how- 
ever, which is formed by the natural acesency of the milk, 
is less cohesive and firm than the curd which is produced 
by rennet or other agents ; and being of less difficult so- 
lution, it is in this state best fitted for food. The propor- 
tion of curd to the volume of milk, is usually estimated at 
about one-eighth ; but this is found in varying proportions 
according to the richness of the milk. 

Milk cannot be made to coagulate at all, when diluted 
with about eight or ten times its own weight of water. 
When the coagulum is formed, it is found perfectly inso- 
luble in water, although, as we have stated, the acids and 
the alkalies have power to dissolve it. Braconnet main- 
tains that its insolubility depends upon its combination 
with some foreign substance, generally an earthy salt or 
an acid ; and when separated from these, it is soluble both 
in hot and cold water. In this pure state, it cannot be co- 
agulated either by heat or air ; and when concentrated, it 
becomes viscid like mucilage. He says, soluble caseum 
may be obtained from curd spontaneously formed in milk, 



CURD WITH ACIDS. 87 

by washing the curd, and then digesting it with water so 
thoroughly impregnated with carbonate of potassa as is 
sufficient to unite with the acetic acid. By this process 
acetate of potassa, is generated with the disengagement of 
carbonic acid, and the curd is dissolved. Now in order to 
separate the curd from the accompanying acetate, the so- 
lution, after removing the cream which collects on its sur- 
face by repose, must be mixed with a little sulphuric acid, 
and the precipitated sulphate of curd being carefully wash- 
ed, is readily dissolved in water by the smallest possible 
quantity of carbonate of potassa. If the alcohol is then 
freely employed, the caseum itself is thrown ; but if the 
solution is mixed with about its own volume of alcohol, a 
deposit of the sulphate of potassa with some curd and 
cream takes place, and the filtered liquor contains soluble 
curd in great purity.* 

Curd thus prepared still contains a little potassa ; but 
Braconnet considers its solubility as not dependent on the 
presence of the alkali. When evaporated to dryness, it 
forms a diaphanous or pellucid mass which strongly resem- 
bles gum-arabic, may long be preserved without change, 
and still retains its solubility in water. It has an acid re- 
action, and combines readily with alkalies, forming very 
soluble compounds. With the metallic oxides, as well as 
with their salts, it forms sparingly soluble compounds. Its 
affinity for acids is equally marked, and it is precipitated 
by all the mineral acids, except the phosphoric.f 

We must not infer from the difficulties experienced by 
chemists, in dissolving the residuum of milk after its sepa- 
ration from the whey, that it is equally insoluble in the 
stomach, for the contrary is abundantly established. The 
perplexities of chemists merely show how little is known of 
* An. de ch. ei de Ph., xliii. 337. t Turner's Chem., p. 623. 



b» CONSTITUENTS OF CURD, 

those affinities which are essential to the assimilation of 
alimentary substances. If those were understood and 
were united in the same proportions, the like results would 
probably follow out of the stomach as in the stomach. — 
But after all, much must be allowed to the energies of the 
living organs, which often effect with ease what art can- 
not accomplish. 

Curd forming with mineral acids the same compounds 
as albumen and fibrin, it is supposed by some to possess 
analogous properties ; but in the opinion of others it more 
resembles gum than albumen. The distillation of this sub- 
stance exhibits ammonia, empyreumatic oil, and carburet- 
ted hydrogen gas ; it has, therefore, been denominated a 
quaternary compound.* According to the analysis of Gay- 
Lussac and Thenard, the constituents of curd are : 

Carbon 59.781 

Oxygen 11.409 

Hydrogen 7.429 

Azote 21.38 If 



100.000 



Dr. Thompson says, " As we are ignorant of the equiv- 
alent number for curd, we are unable, from the preceding 
analysis, to determine the. constitution of that substance." 
He, therefore, attempts a solution of the ultimate elements 
by assuming the smallest number of atoms that accord 
with the analysis, which is expressed thus : 



7 Atoms carbon 


= 5.25 . 


. 60.87 


1 Atom oxygen 


= 1.00 . 


. 11.60 


5 Atoms bydrogen 


= 0.625 . 


. 7.24 


1 Atom Azote 


= 1.75 . 


. 20.29 



8.625 100.00 

* Gorham's Chem. Vol. II. p. 454. t Recherches, Tom. II. p. 334. 



CONSTITUENTS OF CURD. 89 

By duplicating the number of atoms, it will be in our 
power to compare curd with gelatin, albumen, and fibrin. 
" On that supposition its composition will be 14 atoms car- 
bon == 1.25, + 2 atoms oxygen = 2.0 + 10 atoms hy- 
drogen = 1.25, + 2 atoms azote = 3.5, = 17.25." He, 
therefore, concludes that this composition approaches near- 
est to that of gelatin, from which it differs by the absence 
of 4 atoms water, and 1 atom carbon.* 

From the foregoing general analysis, curd appears to 
consist principally of albumen, gelatin and oil, which con- 
stitute the chief nutrient properties of milk. When all the 
whey is expelled from the concreted mass, and it is moulded 
and pressed, it is, as is well known, called cheese. On the 
manufacture of this article, it would be foreign to our pur- 
pose to dwell. 

III. Whey {serum, ladis). We have before remarked, 
that the serous or watery residuum, after the separation of 
the curd, is denominated whey. This liquor is far less nu- 
tritious than any other part of the milk. It has a peculiar 
sweetish smell and taste, and is rather agreeable. Whey 
of the dairies usually retains minute particles of curd and 
butter which render it turbid ; but when separated from 
these by repeated purifications, it becomes as limpid and al- 
most as colorless as water. By successive evaporations of 
the pure fluid, and the use of appropriate chemical agents, 
whey is found to consist of sugar of milk, gelatin, muriates 
of potash and soda, phosphates of lime and soda, with a cer- 
tain quantity of water. The sulphate of potash, and the 
phosphates of iron and magnesia, have also, it is said, been 
detected in this liquid. 



* Thompson's Chera., Vol. IV. p. 38G. 
8* 



90 SUGAR OF MILK. 

Sugar of milk* {saccholactin) is the saccharine princi- 
ple upon which the sweetness and also the fermenting 
properties of milk depend. It is held in solution by 
the whey after the separation of the curd. Cream also 
contains it in the proportion of forty-four parts, and 
skimmed milk in the ratio of about thirty-five parts of this 
substance in a thousand. As the process of obtaining this 
and the other constituents of whey may be interesting to 
the general reader, we will concisely refer to it. 

Take a quart of milk perfectly creamed by repeated 
skimmings; separate the curd by adding to the milk one 
table-spoonful of vinegar, or what is a better coagulator, 
a small quantity of fresh rennet. When the curd is 
formed, strain it through a fine hair sieve, and afterwards 
filter the liquor through unsized paper. Now slowly 
evaporate the whey to the consistence of a viscid syrup, 
allow it to cool, and it will concrete into a thick gluey 
mass. Dissolve this mass in water, and the whey will be 
sufficiently pure for chemical examination. Evaporate a 
second time as before, and the syrup will be of a faint yellow 
color, and of rather an agreeable flavor. Upon cooling 
the fluid in this state, it deposits numerous prismatic crys- 
tals, of a darkish yellow color, which are called sugar of 
milk. If this substance is re-dissolved and purified by 
means of albumen, it becomes white and semi-transparent. 
Jt is inodorous and of a peculiarly sweetish taste, and ap- 
pears to partake of the properties of both gum and sugar. 

* Fabricius Bartholdi, an Italian, was the first European who 
mentioned ihi.s sugar. He described it in his Encyclopedia Hcrmetico- 
Dogmalica, published at Boulognia in 1619; but it seems to have 
been known in India long before that period. For the best account 
of its properties we are indebted to Mr. Lichtenstein. — Thompson. 



SUGAR OF MILK. 91 

Its crystals are six-sided, or what are denominated regular 
parallelopipeds, terminated by four-sided pyramids. ' 

The properties of this substance are essentially different 
from sugar. It requires for its solution five times its 
volume of cold, or two and a half its volume of hot water. 
It is insoluble in alcohol and ether, except with the addi- 
tion of a little sulphuric acid. At the temperature of 55, 
its specific gravity is 1.543. Great importance appears to 
be attached by some physicians to the medicinal virtues of 
this substance, but it has never, we believe, been shown 
that they are very considerable. In Switzerland and in 
other places, it is separated in a large way for pharmaceu- 
tical purposes. 

Near the end of the evaporation of the whey, muriates 
of potash and soda are deposited, and some phosphate of 
lime. If the fluid, which on cooling assumes the appear- 
ance and consistency of animal jelly, be diluted and slowly 
evaporated a second time, an additional quantity of the 
muriate of potash is separated in crystals, and also of the 
phosphate of soda and lime. Phosphate of lime may be 
obtained by pouring into the clear whey a little of the 
oxalate of ammonia, which occasions a precipitate of the 
oxalate of lime. If the nitrate of lead or the nitrate of mer- 
cury is used, the phosphates of lead and mercury are pre- 
cipitated. The residuum of the whey now consists chiefly 
of gelatin. If alcohol is poured upon the whey after it is 
evaporated to the consistence of syrup, a flaky precipitate 
is formed consisting of gelatin and the sugar of milk, 
which substances may be separated by a decoction of nut- 
galls or tannin. 



CHAPTER X. 

HUMAN MILK. 

Pliny's opinion of different kinds of milk. — Artificial ass's milk, 
its reputed virtues. — Peculiarities of human milk. — Whiter than 
cow 's. — Yields more cream. — In what respects it differs. — Varia- 
tions of it at different periods. — It is incoagulable. — Less prone 
to acidity than other milk. — It is affected by mental emotions. — 
Illustrated by an anecdote. 

So far as known, the principal elements in the milk of 
all other animals are the same as in that of the cow, but so 
varied in their proportions as to give to each kind of milk 
its own peculiar characteristics. To the senses, indeed, the 
difference is so clearly cognizable, that the ancients, who 
were but little acquainted with analytical chemistry, ap- 
pear to have entertained nearly as correct notions of the 
dietetical properties of milk as the moderns, notwithstand- 
ing the great improvements in this branch of science. 
Pliny, the natural historian, was not only a man of learning 
and observation, but also the chronicler of the wisdom of 
the ancients, and yet we have not seen his writings quoted 
on this subject. He says, human milk is sweetest, and 
camel's is next ; cow's milk will yield twice as much but- 
ter as the same quantity of goat's milk, and is better than 
any other for butter. Camel's milk is thickest, and as it 
regards consistence, mare's milk ranks next. But goat's 
milk he supposes to be most nourishing, and hence origin- 
ated the mythical legend of the poets, who feigned that 
Jupiter was suckled by a goat. Sow's milk was regarded 



HUMAN MILK. 93 

as an efficacious aperient, and was prescribed for various 
maladies.* But ass's milk, on account of its reputed 
medical and cosmetic properties, was valued beyond any 
other kind. Such confidence was reposed in its virtues as 
a beautifier of the complexion, that the Empress Poppsea, 
wife of Domitius Nero, used it for this purpose ; having 
five hundred asses continually in her retinue to furnish her 
with a fresh bath every morning. Artificial ass's milk, 
reputed to possess similar properties, was prepared as fol- 
lows : 

P. x. limac terrest. contns. xviii. Rasur. C. Cervi. 
Hordei perlati. Rad. cryngii, sing. unc. i. aquae purse lib. 
vi. coque coni igne in vase singulino vitriato ad lib. iii. ; 
dein cola et adde sympi balsamici seseuncian. Capiat 
quotidie unc. iv. hujus liquoris mistas cum lactis vaccin. 
recentis p. ae.f 

The milk of the animals named does not, as will ap- 
pear from modern observations and experiments, essen- 
tially vary from the foregoing account. 

Assuming cow's milk, because most familiarly known, 
as a standard of comparison, we propose to refer with 
some particularity to the milk of other animals. 

Human milk is whiter and thinner than that of the 
cow, and contains more saccharine and oily matter, but 
less caseum. It contains, indeed, less than a sixth part of 
the curd that is yielded by cow's milk, and it is imperfectly 
coagulable either by rennet or acids. Heat does not in- 
crease its coagulability ; but when it is boiled a pellicle is 
thrown up to the surface, which has the properties of 
caseum. The difficulty in forming the curd, is attributed 
by Thompson and others chiefly to the superabundance of 

* Pliny's Natural History, Lib. XXVIII. c. 11. 
t Med. Trans., Vol. II. p. 341. 



94 PECULIARITIES OF 

water with which the curd is diluted. As it contains, how- 
ever, less than one per cent, more water than cow's milk, 
which so readily coagulates, this reason is evidently in- 
conclusive. 

Woman's milk yields abundance of cream, which is 
generally whiter than cow's, and after it is separated, the 
milk is extremely thin, and of a pale bluish color. No 
butter can be obtained from the cream. After long churn- 
ing, a viscid unctuous matter is separated, but it cannot be 
changed into perfect butter. If it is allowed to remain at 
rest a day or two after the agitation, it spontaneously 
separates into two parts; the one a colorless, pellucid 
fluid, which occupies the inferior part of the vessel ; and 
the other a thick, white, oily fluid, which floats upon the 
surface. The lowermost fluid contains sugar of milk and 
some curd ; the uppermost does not differ from cream, ex- 
cept in consistence. But as the oily part of this cream 
cannot be separated by agitation from the curd, it is found 
extremely difficult to determine the relative proportions of 
the component parts of human milk.* When the whey, 
after the curd is separated from it, is slowly evaporated, it 
yields crystals of sugar of milk, and of muriate of soda. 
The quantity of sugar is greater than in cow's milk. Ac- 
cording to Haller, the sugar obtained from cow's milk is to 
that obtained from an equal quantity of woman's milk, as 
35:58, and sometimes as 37:67, and in all the intermediate 
ratios. 

Woman's milk appears, therefore, to differ from that of 
cow's in three particulars. 

I. It contains a much smaller quantity of curd. 

II. Its oil is so intimately combined with its curd, that 
it does not yield butter. 

* Parmentier. Jour, de Phys., XXXVIII. 419. 



HUMAN MILK. 95 

III. It contains more sugar of milk.* 

Parmentier and Deyeux ascertained that the quantity 
of curd in woman's milk increases in proportion to the time 
after delivery. They also observed that when milk is drawn 
from the breast often and at short intervals, the milk is 
constantly thin and affords very little nourishment to the 
infant. They, therefore, recommend as essential to healthy 
nutrition, that the intervals of suckling be as great as pos- 
sible without injury to the nurse or child ; and that when 
the infant is placed at the breast, it should be allowed to re- 
main until it draws away all that will come freely, for the 
last is invariably the richest and best. 

The prevailing opinion that human milk is coagulable, 
has arisen from the single circumstance that infants fre- 
quently vomit the milk which they suck in a state of ap- 
parent coagulation, but this idea is disproved by high au- 
thority. Mr. Clark having utterly failed after numerous 
experiments to coagulate human milk, says, " I am per- 
suaded that rich milk in a healthy state will be found to 
contain little or no curd, and that the general opinion of its 
nature is founded upon fallacious analogy and superficial 
observations made upon the matter vomited up by infants. 
We may presume that the cream of woman's milk, by its 
inferior specific gravity, will swim on the surface of the 
contents of the stomach ; and being of an oily nature, that 
it will be of more difficult digestion than any other consti- 
tuent part of the milk. When an infant, then, sucks very 
plentifully so as to over-distend the stomach, or labors under 
weakness in the powers of -digestion, it cannot appear un- 
reasonable to suppose, that the cream will be first rejected 
by vomiting. Analogous to this we know that adults, affected 

* Thompson's Chem., Vol. IV. p. 389. 



96 VARIATIONS OF HUMAN MILK. 

with dyspepsia, often bring up greasy fluids from the stomach 
by eructation, and this especially after eating fat meat."* 
He appears to derive a confirmation of this opinion from 
the observation that curds vomited up by infants of a few 
days old are yellow, whilst in the course of a fortnight or 
three weeks they become white. This he accounts for 
from the yellow color of the cream yielded by the milk of 
women, during the first four or five days after delivery. We 
have dwelt the longer on this particular, as these views are 
at variance with the generally received opinion on the sub- 
ject. 

Another remarkable property of human milk is, that 
it is far less prone to acidity than other milk. It is well 
known that the milk of ruminant animals will become 
acid at a medium temperature in the course of from twelve 
to twenty hours, and in the course of a few days 
offensively putrid. But healthy human milk, exposed in 
the same manner, w r ill not undergo the same change in 
many weeks, and sometimes not in many months. 

There is, moreover, greater variations in the quality of 
woman's milk, than in any other. This is observable not 
only in different persons, but in the same persons under 
different circumstances. These irregularities may gener- 
ally be attributed, either to diet, the alternations of health or 
disease, or probably more frequently to the influence of the 
mental emotions, which as they happen to be unfavorably 
affected, produce corresponding changes in the milk that 
seriously injure the health of the infant, and in some instan- 
ces have proved fatal. 

The following case related by Dr. Von Ammon, physi- 
cian to the king of Saxony (as quoted by Dr. Combe), 

* Enc. Britan., Vol. XV. p. 75. 



HUMAN MILK, HOW AFFECTED. 97 

very strikingly illustrates the destructive influence of strong 
excitement in the mother, on the system of the infant* 
" A carpenter quarreled with a soldier billeted in his 
house, and was set upon by the latter with his drawn sword. 
The wife of the carpenter at first trembled from fear and 
terror, and then suddenly threw herself furiously between 
the combatants, wrested the sword from the soldier's hand, 
broke it in pieces, and threw T it away. During the tumult, 
some neighbors came in and separated the men. While in 
this state of strong excitement, the mother took up her child 
from the cradle, where it lay playing and in most perfect 
health, never having had a moment's illness ; she gave it the 
breast, and in so doing sealed its fate. In a few minutes the 
infant left off, became restless, panted, and sank dead on its 
mother's bosom. The physician who was instantly called in 
found the child lying in the cradle as if asleep, and with 
its features undisturbed; but all his resources were fruit- 
less. It was irrecoverably gone." Were it necessary, 
other instructive cases might be cited, but this may suffice. 
It is no objection to the foregoing illustration that it is a 
strong one. Similar effects from like causes may in all 
ordinary cases be expected to follow, proportioned in degree, 
of course, not only to the suddenness and violence of the 
paroxysms, but also to their duration. 

* Die erstea Mutterpflichten und erste Kindespifege, p. 102 , 3d 
Edit. Leipsig, 1839. 



CHAPTER XL 

MILK OF DIFFERENT ANIMALS. 

Ass's milk compared with cow's milk. — In what it chiefly differs. — 
Mare's milk. — Its properties. — Less nutritious than any other. — 
Abounds in saccharine matter. — Method of obtaining an intoxi- 
cating liquor therefrom.— Goat's milk. — Its properties. — Evapo- 
ration of five kinds of milk and results.— Comparison of different 
kinds. — Ewe's, camel's, sow's, and bitch's milk. — Medicinal pro- 
perties of the latter. — Whale's milk. — Its lactescent organs. — The 
constituents of six kinds of milk compared.— The differences 
in milk referred to the digestive process. — Evidences of design in 
milk. — Milk, the great alimentary prototype. 

Ass's milk, is also very different from that of the cow. 
Its cream and milk are both very similar in color and con- 
sistence to woman's milk ; containing like it fewer salts and 
less cream, but more saccharine matter than cow's milk. 
Butter may be separated from the cream by very long agi- 
tation, but it is always extremely soft, insipid and sour, and 
soon becomes rancid. If allowed to stand, the butter 
readily mixes again with the fluid from which it had been 
separated, and by renewed agitation the butter may again 
be obtained. The milk when creamed has a sweetish pal- 
atable taste. It does not spontaneously coagulate. Alcohol 
and acids will form, however, a little curd, butjit is uniform- 
ly of a soft and flaky character. The whey yields sugar 
of milk in the proportion of 35:80; and muriate of lime, 
often mixed with common salt. The milk of this animal 
chiefly differs from that of the cow in three particulars : 



mare's milk. 99 

I. Its cream is less abundant. 

II. It contains less caseous matter. 

III. It contains more sugar of milk.* 

It is now generally admitted, that there is nothing pe- 
culiar in this milk more than in any other, to warrant a 
belief in the medical qualities which have been ascribed 
to it. 

Mare's milk resembles good cow's milk in color, but it 
is thinner, being of a medium consistence between that and 
human milk. When the milk is creamed, it coagulates 
like cow's milk, but it contains far less caseous matter, and 
very few oily particles. The cream is very fluid, and can- 
not be converted into butter ; the whey is nearly colorless, 
contains a large proportion of saccharine matter, and small 
portions of sulphate of lime, and muriate of lime. 

This milk is more insipid and less nutritious than any 
other, yet it has been strongly recommended as a diet for 
feeble and consumptive persons. In such cases it is proba- 
bly preferred, because its easy assimilation better adapts it 
to the weakened state of the digestive organs, and the gen- 
erally debilitated condition of the patient. 

From the quantity of saccharine matter which this milk 
contains, it is by particular management susceptible of vi- 
nous fermentation, and a small portion of alcohol is conse- 
quently developed. But this result is not so readily obtain- 
ed from milk as from other substances which more abound 
with sugar or farinaceous matter. The Tartars, however, 
are famous for an intoxicating drink which they prepare 
from this milk, denominated koumiss ; the Arabs make a 
similar liquor called leban ; and the Turks a beverage of 
like qualities known as yaourt. But the saccharine principle 

* Thompson's Chera., Vol. IV. p. 389. 



100 goat's milk. 

in the milk is so weak, that in preparing the liquor there 
appears to be some difficulty in extending the fermentative 
process to all parts of the fluid at the same time. This, 
however, is overcome by preparing large quantities at a time, 
and subjecting the mass to frequent agitations. Fermen- 
tation is induced by adding to the milk about one sixth its 
volume of water, and about one eighth of the sourest milk 
they can obtain, or a smaller proportion of koumiss already 
fermented. The air is then excluded from the vessel by 
a thick cloth cover, and it is required to stand in a moderate 
warmth for twenty-four hours, and to be frequently beaten 
with a stick to diffuse the curdy matter through the aqueous, 
from which it had separated. The whole mass is now 
thrown into a high narrow vessel, and the agitation is con- 
tinued until the liquor has become perfectly homogeneous. 
This liquor will keep some months, in close vessels and in 
a cool place ; but must be well mixed every time it is used. 
Sometimes a spirit is extracted from it by distillation, in the 
ratio of six ounces of strong spirit from twenty-one pounds 
of milk. 

Goat's milk nearly resembles that of the cow in three 
particulars : the richness and abundance of its cream ; its 
convertibility into butter; and its coagulability. It differs 
also from cow's milk in several particulars. Its consistence 
is greater; its butter is always whiter and softer; and it 
yields a greater proportion of curd, which is firmer and re- 
tains less whey. It also gives out a peculiar animal aroma, 
which at certain seasons is strong and offensive. This 
odor is less perceptible in those without horns and the 
white, than in those of a black color. The whey contains 
sugar of milk, muriate of lime, and muriate of soda. 

Dr. Lewis subjected four of the five kinds of milk we have 



EWE S AND CAMEL S MILK. 



101 



considered, to evaporation, and the following were the 
results. 



Twelve ounces of 


Left of dry matter 


From which water extracted 

a sweet valine substance, 

amounting to 


Cow's milk 
Goat's milk 
Human milk 
Ass's milk 


13 drachms 
12i do. 

8" do. 

8 do. 


1* drachms 
li do. 
6 do. 
6 do. 



The foregoing experiments would show, that the con- 
stituents of cow's and goat's milk very nearly approximate, 
while those in human and ass's milk are precisely alike. 
These results, it will be observed, agree essentially with 
the peculiarities we have ascribed to each of these different 
kinds of milk. But from the detailed analysis before giv- 
en (p 81,) in which our experiments concur, the solid con- 
stituents of human and cow's milk differ but 2.100ths, 
which is a closer agreement than is found to exist in any 
other kinds of milk. 

Ewe's milk in appearance can scarcely be distinguished 
from that of the cow ; the cream is thick and unctuous, and 
the curd, which readily separates from the milk, is oily and 
viscid. The milk yields considerable yellow butter, which 
is always soft and prone to rancidity. The serum is semi- 
transparent like that of cow's, contains less saccharine 
matter than any other milk, with small portions of the mu- 
riate and phosphate of lime. The milk is impregnated 
with the odor of the perspirable fluids of the animal, and is 
by many considered too unpalatable for human use. The 
caseous matter of the milk being very rich, it makes ex- 
cellent cheese. 

Camel's milk is thin, yielding but little cream, and a 

little whitish butter. The proportion of caseum is small, 

the serum colorless, and slightly saccharine. 

Sow's milk is sweeter than that of the cow, and is re- 
9* 



102 MILK OF THE SOW, BITCH, ETC. 

markable for its laxative effects when used as an article of 
diet ; in other respects it nearly resembles cow's milk. 

Bitch's milk is said by those who have so far overcome 
their prejudices as to taste it, to be very sweet and pala- 
table. Dr. Kenneda remarks, " that the milk of the female 
dog has been administered as a medicine to persons suffer- 
ing from disease; and in these it almost always produced 
the mildest aperient effects. An epileptic lad took it to 
the amount of two ounces every morning, and with mani- 
fest advantage. It operates with considerable benefit 
when given in suitable proportions to nervous children, 
both before and after their being weaned. The influence of 
imagination in exciting disgust at its use, may be obviated 
to a reasonable extent by feeding the animal on a pure hu- 
man diet." 

Whales belono-ino; to the class of animals denominated 
mammalia, nourish their young with milk, but inhabiting 
the sea, they are much less known to us than those found 
upon the land. But as opportunities have been afforded of 
examining different animals of this order, a tolerably accu- 
rate idea has been gained both of the lactescent secretions 
and the organs of these animals, a concise account of 
which we subjoin. According to John Hunter, Esq., F. R. S., 
the glands for the secretion of milk in the whale are two, 
one on each side of the middle line of the belly at its lower 
part. The posterior ends, from which go out the nipples, 
are on each side of the opening of the vagina, in small 
sulci. They are flat bodies lying between the external 
layer of fat and the abdominal muscles, are of considerable 
length, but only one fourth of that in breadth. They are 
thin, that they may not vary the external shape of the ani- 
mal, and have a principal duct, running in the middle 
through the whole length of the gland, and collecting the 
smaller lateral ducts, which are made up of those still 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF MILK. 



103 



smaller. Some of these lateral branches enter the common 
trunk in the direction of the milk's passage, others in the 
contrary direction, especially those nearest the termination 
of the trunk in the nipple. The trunk is large, and ap- 
pears to serve as a reservoir for the milk. From this res- 
ervoir the milk is injected into the mouth of the young, by 
the action of powerful cutaneous muscles, arranged so as 
to compass the reservoir and dilated ducts of the mammary 
glands, and terminate externally in a projection which is 
the nipple. The milk is probably very rich ; for in that 
caught at Berkley, England, with its young one, the milk, 
which was tasted by Mr. Jenner, and Mr. Ludlow surgeon 
at Jedburgh, was rich, it is said, like cow's milk to which 
cream had been added.* 

But six kinds of milk have been chemically examined, 
viz. cow's, woman's, ass's, mare's, goat's and ewe's. The 
quality of the saccharine substance yielded by each of these 
milks, according to Parmentier, was precisely the same in 
all, whilst all the other constituents varied in quality as well 
as in quantity. From the general properties of these milks 
they have been divided into two classes : 1, the milk 
which abounds in serous and saline parts ; 2, that which 
is rich in caseous and butyraceous substances. The sub- 
joined table exhibits a comparative view of milk in the or- 
der in which the proportions of curd, butter, sugar of milk, 
and whey predominate. 



Comparatively. | Curd. | Butter. | Sugar of milk. | Whey. 



Proportions 



; 1. Goat. 
Milkofthe^ 2. Sheep. 
S 3. Cow. 

) 4. Ass. 
Milkofthe' 5. Woman. 
) G. Mare. 



Sheep. 

Cow. 

Goat. 

Woman. 

Ass. 

Mare. 



Woman. 

A^s 

Mare. 

Cow, 
\ Goat. 
1 Sheep. 



Ass. 

Woman. 

Mare. 

Cow. 
Goat. 
Sheep. 



Yields most. 
" Less. 
" Least. 

Yields most. 
" Less. 
" Least. 



* Vide Phi. Trans. Vol. LXXVII. 



104 DIFFERENCES IN MILK. 

Chaptal justly remarks that " milk follows the nature 
of the aliment more than any other fluid of the body." 
But there is a difference independent of this circumstance. 
The cow, the goat, the mare, and the ass may feed in the 
same pastures, yet so peculiar will be the milk of each, 
that no experienced observer w T ould mistake the production 
of one animal for that of another. Some of the distin- 
guishing characteristics of different kinds of milk will be 
seen in the foregoing classification. In the milk of ani- 
mals which are both ruminant and herbivorous, curd and 
butter predominate ; whilst in the milk of animals merely 
herbivorous, curd and butter are found in defective propor- 
tions, and whey and saccharine matter abound. Hence 
we may fairly infer that there is something in the diges- 
tive process, or in the action of the absorbents or lacteals, 
that prepares and abstracts from the aliment the properties 
which impart to each kind of milk its distinguishing char- 
acter and quality. And this diversity exists not only in the 
milk of different orders of animals, but in the milk of the 
same animal at stated periods. From the time of lactation 
onwards, there is a gradation in the nutrient properties of 
the milk, which corresponds with the wants, growth, and 
condition of the young it was intended by the Author of 
nature to nourish. 

This chapter cannot, perhaps, be better closed than 
in the words of the philosophic Prout : " Of all the evi- 
dences of design in the whole order of nature, milk affords 
one of the most unequivocal. No one can for a moment 
doubt the object for which this valuable fluid was prepar- 
ed. No one can doubt that the apparatus by which milk 
is secreted, has been formed specially for its secretion. No 
one will maintain that the apparatus for the secretion of 
milk arose from the wishes or wants of the animal possess- 



EVIDENCES OF DESIGN. 105 

ing the apparatus ; or from any fancied plastic energy. 
On the contrary, the rudiments of the apparatus for the 
secretion of milk, must have actually existed in the body 
of the animal ready for development, before the animal 
could have felt wants or desires. In short, it is manifest 
that the apparatus and its uses, were designed and made 
what they are, by the great Creator of the universe ; 
and on no other supposition can their existence be ex- 
plained." 

" The composition of the substances, by which animals 
are usually nourished, favors the mixture of the primary 
staminal alimentary principles ; since most of these substan- 
ces are compounds of at least two of the staminal princi- 
ples. Thus most of the graminivorous and herbaceous mat- 
ters contain the saccharine and glutinous principles ; while 
every part of an animal contains at least albumen and oil. 
Perhaps, therefore, it is impossible to name a substance 
constituting the food of the more perfect animals, which does 
not consist essentially of at least two, if not of all the three 
great principles of aliment. But in the artificial food of 
man, we see this great process of mixture most strongly 
exemplified. He, dissatisfied with the spontaneous produc- 
tions of nature, culls from every source ; and by the force 
of his reason, or rather of his instinct, forms in every pos- 
sible manner, and under every disguise, the same great 
alimentary compound. This, after all his cooking and his 
art, how much soever he may be disinclined to believe it, 
is the sole object of his labor ; and the more nearly his 
results approach to this object, the more nearly do they 
approach perfection. Even in the utmost refinements of 
his luxury, and in his choicest delicacies, the same great 
principle is attended to ; and his sugar and flour, his eggs 



106 EVIDENCES OF DESIGN. 

and butter, in all their various forms and combinations, 
are nothing more or less, than disguised imitations of the 
great alimentary prototype milk, as furnished to him by 
nature." 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE UNNATURAL METHODS OF PRODUCING MILK FOR THE 
CONSUMPTION OF LARGE CITIES. 

Impure milk consequent upon the mismanagement of the dairies. — 
The evil avoidable. — Manner of producing milk. — Prevalence of 
its use. — Collateral mischiefs. — Connection of the dairies with 
distilleries. — Importance of the former to the latter. — Slop as food 
for fattening cattle. — Distilleries in the vicinity of cities. — Igno- 
rance of the people on the subject. — Slop-milk only a branch. — 
Quadruple alliance. — Extent of the evils produced shown by the 
destruction of grain. — The production of whisky. — Diseased 
cattle and swine slaughtered. 

What has been incidentally remarked in preceding 
chapters, of the value of milk as an article of human sus- 
tenance, refers of course to, that which is pure ; for milk, 
without these attributes, or possessing such as are delete- 
rious, is not only worthless for such a purpose, but its use 
should be universally deprecated. Milk, however, being a 
natural secretion, and not a manufactured article, it has 
been taken for granted, that in whatever way produced its 
nutrient and healthy properties are essentially the same ; 
hence the inconsiderate consumption of the milk of animals 
w r hich are kept in confinement and upon unnatural food, as is 
the case to a deplorable extent in cities and other populous 
places. That the use of such milk is extensively injurious 
to human health and life, and incidentally to the morals of 
communities, will, it is believed, in the course of this work, 
be made plainly to appear. A fatal delusion prevails on 
this subject, not only in this country, but throughout the 



108 MANNER OF PRODUCING MILK. 

world ; and until its mischiefs were exposed by the writer 
in a series of essays published in this city in 1836 — 7, he 
is not aware that the public mind was ever called to its 
consideration. 

There are doubtless many natural and moral evils 
wisely permitted in the world, which no human sagacity 
or foresight can prevent or remove, and are therefore to be 
passively endured. But such is neither the kind nor the 
character of the evil under consideration. It is one which 
is inflicted upon the community, not by the providence of 
God, but by the recklessness or cupidity of men. The suf- 
ferings hitherto consequent upon it, have been the penalty 
of the ignorance and apathy which have prevailed upon the 
subject. If now, however, with open eyes and the remedy 
at hand, we choose to suffer, we deserve to suffer. But 
whatever may be the moral preferences of men, it is not in 
human nature to prefer sickness to health, or physical evil 
instead of physical good. "When the subject in its relations 
to morals, health, and life, is fully understood, all will feel 
bound by the most weighty considerations to do all in their 
power to deliver the community from so grievous an evil. 

The manner of producing milk to supply the inhabitants 
of cities and other populous places, is so contrary to our 
knowledge of the laws which govern the animal economy, 
that from a bare statement of the facts, any intelligent 
mind might confidently anticipate the evils which actually 
result from it. The natural and healthy condition of the 
cows, appears, for the most part, to be utterly disregarded. 
They are literally crowded together in large numbers in 
filthy pens, which at once deprives them of adequate ex- 
ercise and pure air, both of which are indispensably essen- 
tial to their health. Instead of being supplied with food 
suited to the masticatory and digestive organs of herbivo- 



MANNER OF PRODUCING MILK. 109 

rous and ruminant animals, they are most generally treated 
as if omnivorous ; and their stomachs are gorged with any 
description of aliment, however unhealthy, which can be 
most easily and cheaply procured, and will produce the 
greatest quantity of milk. Thus, in the vicinities of the 
cities of New-York and Brooklyn, in America, and indeed 
wherever grain distilleries abound, either in this country or 
in Europe, distillery -slop is extensively used.* In London 
and other places where brewers' grains can be obtained, 
they are in great requisition for milk-dairies; while in 
grape-growing countries, the refuse of the grape is used for 
the same purpose, and with effects as pernicious as those 
produced by the dregs of the distillery. Besides these un- 
healthy aliments, in other cases decayed vegetables, and 
the sour and putrid offals and remnants of kitchens, are in. 
populous places carefully gathered up as food for milch 
cows. As might be expected, the cattle, under this most 
unnatural management, become diseased, and the lactes- 
cent secretions not only partake of the same nature, but 
are impure, unhealthy, and innutritious. Yet this milk is 
the chief aliment of children in all places where the popu- 
lation is condensed in great numbers; it is the nourishment 
chosen and relied upon to develope the physical powers and 
impart vigor to the constitution during the most feeble and 
critical period of human life, when the best possible nour- 
ishment is especially necessary, in order to counteract the 
injurious effects of the infected air and deficient exercise, 
which are often inseparable from the conditions of a city life. 
So few are the exceptions to these modes of producing 
and using milk under the circumstances named, that they 

* Distillery-slop is the refuse of grain diffused through water 
after it has undergone a chemical change, the alcohol and farina 
being extracted by the processes of fermentation and distillation. ' 

10 



110 IMPURE MILK. 

may be said to be nearly universal, both in this and in 
most other countries. And when it is recollected that in 
the United States about one third of the population live 
in masses, and in Europe a vastly greater proportion, some 
adequate idea may be formed of the extent to which the 
evils consequent upon the use of an essential but an un- 
healthy article of food, prevail. If the importance of a 
subject, therefore, may be determined, either by the num- 
ber of persons it concerns, or by its influence upon the 
welfare of individuals, this should rank high in the scale 
of interest, and receive the attentive consideration of every 
friend of humanity. 

There are numerous other collateral mischiefs, vitally 
affecting the interests as well as the morals of the people, 
which must be taken into the account in order to a proper 
estimate of this unnatural system. — But not to anticipate 
the subject, it may be in place first to remark, that the facts 
from which the conclusions are drawn, are of recent devel- 
opment. The public has been beguiled into the support of 
the slop-milk business. Under the most specious pretences 
and disguises, this system has been secretly sowing the 
seeds of disease, preying on health and morals, and actu- 
ally destroying the lives of thousands of innocent children, 
while it was supposed, so far as any thought was bestowed 
upon it, to be ministering merely to our daily wants and 
necessities. Its mischiefs were not even suspected. Who, 
indeed, could have imagined, that under the disguise of so 
bland and necessary an article as milk, was lurking disease 
and death ? Yet such was the fearful fact; and by insi- 
dious and unnoticed processes had this vile business been 
silently extending itself, until it became an important and 
necessary part of a formidable system, replete with mis- 
chief in all its ramifications and results. 



DECREASE OF DISTILLATION. Ill 

It is said that the business of distillation has not of late 
years decreased so rapidly in large cities and other popu- 
lous places, as in the country. If such is the fact, it may 
be ascribed, first, to the greater facilities afforded at such 
places for palming on the public, as is notoriously the prac- 
tice, the whisky which is prepared and sold for wine, and 
under the disguise of every other kind of liquor in demand ; 
and second, to the liberal patronage of the milk dairies ; for 
without a market for the refuse, the work of distillation 
must greatly diminish, and in many cases entirely cease. 

When whisky sold high because of the demand, the 
business of distillation was considered very lucrative, a vast 
amount of capital was employed, and great numbers of per- 
sons in all parts of the country were engaged in it. But 
as the light of temperance has been gaining ground, the 
demand for the article, and also the price, has gradually 
decreased, until the profits of the manufacture with many, 
would not compensate for the wear and tear of conscience 
consequent upon the business. Thus, according to the offi- 
eial report of the Secretary of State, there were in opera- 
tion in the State of New-York alone in 1829, 1,129 distil- 
leries. As the work of reduction has been going on with 
undiminished activity ever since, the number at present in 
operation, as appears from recent official statistics, is less 
than 200. And this statement will appear more striking 
in connection with the fact, that notwithstanding our aug- 
mented population, and the greatly increased consumption 
of spirit in the arts and manufactures, the importations 
of the article into the United States within the same period, 
has diminished more than two thirds. 

Many distillers of grain, who were supposed to be do- 
ing a thriving business, have suddenly failed ; and those who 
continue, in spite of the odium and immorality attached to 



112 DAIRIES AND DISTILLERIES. 

it, to make and sell whisky as a beverage, are driven to va- 
rious expedients to sustain what under any management is 
rapidly becoming a sinking concern. In order that the 
expenses may not exceed the profits, the slop must be turn- 
ed to good account ; hence a milk dairy or a " piggery," 
are indispensable adjuncts to every distillery. 

But slop alone, as food for fattening cattle, is of little 
value. On such unatural aliment they become diseased 
and emaciated. Cows plentifully supplied with it, may 
yield abundance of milk ; but it is notorious that the article 
thus produced is so defective in the properties essential to 
good milk, that it cannot be converted into butter or cheese, 
of course is good for nothing — except to sell. But in 
country places milk cannot be turned to account in this 
way, for there are no buyers, and as slop, for the reasons 
named, is not in request for stock or dairies, if the distiller 
would find the most advantageous market for it, he must 
conduct his operations in the vicinity of populous places. 
This, we repeat, is one among other reasons why such lo- 
calities are desired. He finds it less profitable to fatten 
swine upon slop, on account of the risk of killing them to 
his own detriment, than to have it fed to human beings 
through the agency of the dairyman. 

It may also be remarked, that very many persons have 
banished intoxicating drinks from their dwellings ; and with 
the knowledge of the fact, would no more be accessory to 
the manufacture than their use. But so ramified and involv- 
ed are the various agencies of intemperance, that in the 
supply of their families with a necessary article, they 
have hitherto unconsciously perpetuated its evils by sup- 
porting the distilleries. 

But without enlarging here on particulars of this kind, 
the business of producing milk from slop, as briefly de- 



DAIRIES AND DISTILLERIES. 113 

scribed, will be seen to be merely a branch of a very ex- 
tensive concern. The entire system, is the result of a 
quadruple alliance, consisting first, of distillers ; second, 
of slop dairymen ; third, the venders and consumers, of 
intoxicating liquors; and fourth, the consumers of the milk 
thus produced. Such appear to be the facts. The distil- 
lers are supported by the slop milkmen ; and the milkmen 
by their customers. Let the customers withdraw ther pat- 
ronage, and the business of these milkmen will be broken 
up, and a check given to the business of distillation. Here 
then are several active and interested partners. By their 
united enterprise and industry, the system is kept in vig- 
orous operation, each and all the parts being found mutu- 
ally dependent and necessary to each other. But more 
definitely the great business of the league, as ascertained 
by its effects, is threefold, viz. : 

First. To convert, by the process of distillation, nu- 
tritious grain, created for the purpose of sustenance, into a 
poison for man, and reserve a residuum of the nutritious 
part as food for brutes. 

Second. To sell whisky dregs, when strained through 
the udders of diseased cows, and duly diluted, colored, 
and drugged, for milk. 

Third. To supply the market with scrofulous and 
measly pork, and also with the bloated and diseased car- 
cases of cows, as a substitute for beef. 

These statements may appear exaggerations, but they 
are sober facts. The proof of these, is best shown by 
the success of this combination in securing its objects, 
and by the extent of its operations and actual re- 
sults, which will be duly considered in their proper place. 
Let it suffice here in passing to remark : 

First. It is ascertained that the distilleries in the city 
10* 



114 EXTENT OF THE EVIL. 

of New-York and vicinity, destroy as much grain created 
for purposes of sustenance, as would nearly suffice for the 
supply of the entire population. To this sinful waste and 
perversion of the bounties of Providence, add the millions 
of dollars the public is annually taxed for the liquors thus 
produced, and in addition thereto the incalculable amount 
of disease and wretchedness and ruin occasioned by the 
polluted and polluting streams which flow from these 
pestilential fountains; and we still have an inadequate 
idea of the evils inflicted upon the population by the dis- 
tilleries. What friend of humanity, with these facts before 
him, will, by the use of slop milk, aid and encourage so 
wretched a business 1 

Second. It has been estimated, after careful inquiry, 
that about ten thousand cows in the city of New-York and 
neighborhood^are most inhumanly condemned to subsist on 
the residuum or slush of this grain, after it has undergone 
a chemical change, and reeking hot from the distilleries. 
This slush, moreover, after the ceremony of straining 
through the organs of sickly cows, as before stated, and 
duly colored and diluted and medicated, is sold to the 
citizens at an annual expense of more than a million dol- 
lars. The amount of disease and death consequent upon 
the sale and use of this milk, is doubtless recorded in the 
books of final judgment, and will hereafter be revealed. 
But the fact which chiefly concerns the public is, that this 
milk has been, and, as will be shown it is believed by in- 
controvertible testimony, is now, extensively injurious and 
Jfatal to health and life. 

Third. If other facts were necessary to prove the suc- 
cess of the combination and the iniquity of the system, we 
might proceed to show to what extent it supplies the 
market with diseased pork and beef, but especially the 



EXTENT OF THE EVIL. 115 

latter ; for thousands of slop-fed cows having in a single 
year become so diseased as to be of little use for the dairy, 
they are slaughtered and eaten by our citizens. But it is 
not here designed to go into detail. It is sufficient that 
the entire system, when first assailed, was not only rife 
with evil in all its tendencies and effects, but was of great 
extent, and had become firmly established by its connec- 
tions, and the various interests which it had drawn to its 
support. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EVILS OF UNNATURAL FEEDING DEMONSTRATED FROM THE 
PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE COW. 

Digestive organs of ruminant animals. — Teeth. — Salivary glands. — 
(Esophagus — Rumen. — Reticulum. — Omasum. — Abomasum. — 
Process of rumination. — Liquids pass into t lie fourth stomach. — 
Digestive process. — In the different stomachs. — Gastricjuice. — 
General deductions. 

Having in the preceding chapter presented some gen- 
eral views, we now proceed to a more particular examina- 
tion of the subject. In order to place it in its true light, 
let it be remarked, first, that the cow is an herbivorous and 
a ruminating animal ; pasturage, of course, or gramineous 
matter, is its natural and appropriate aliment. 

Reasoning a priori from the physical formation of the 
cow, as it is a ruminating animal, it were easy to de- 
monstrate that its digestive organs are peculiarly adapted, 
and were designed by nature, for solid food ; and conse- 
quently that distillery slop and food of that description is the 
most unnatural aliment which it can receive into its stomach. 

The digestive organs of the ruminant class, such as the 
cow and sheep, are more complicated than those of any 
other animals. In the first place, they have cutting or in- 
cisor teeth which are admirably adapted for cropping grass 
or pasturage. The upper external portion of these teeth, 
is convex, rising straight from the gum, while inwards they 
have a concave surface, gradually diminishing in thickness, 
and terminating in a sharp edge which is covered with ena- 
mel, so as to produce and retain the sharpness necessary for 
separating herbaceous substances. They have also large mo- 



THE COW'S STOMACH. 117 

lares, or grinding teeth, fitted for comminuting grassy fibres, 
or food which requires long and difficult mastication, in 
order that the nourishment may be extracted from it ; and 
for this purpose we find the enamel, or harder portions of 
the teeth, distributed over and throughout their texture. Be- 
sides this, they have large salivary glands, for the purpose 
of moistening and lubricating the food preparatory to swal- 
lowing, and to aid in the second process of mastication, 
during which the food is reduced to a pultaceous state; 
while in carnivorous animals, these glands are either want- 
ing, or of a much smaller size. 

But the considerations drawn from the stomach of the 
cow, are still more striking and conclusive, and will be better 
understood by referring to the following plate. The (eso- 
phagus is marked (a), which gradually enlarges as it de- 
scends, and apparently runs into the rumen or paunch, but 
in fact terminates in a canal ; (6) represents the oesophagus 
slit open at the commencement of the cesophagean canal, to 
show its communication with the first and second stomachs. 

The first stomach (c) is usually called the paunch or 
rumen ; it is placed immediately under the termination of 
the gullet, and is much the largest of the four. Externally, 
it has two sacs or appendices, and internally it presents four 
divisions separated from each other by deeply projecting 
duplicatures of the coats of the stomach. The rumen of 
animals fed on herbaceous food, is seldom or never empty ; 
it is in constant motion, and by its macerating process pre- 
pares its contents for future digestion. 

The second stomach, marked (d), is called the reticu- 
lum, and is a globular appendage of the paunch, only it 
possesses a thicker muscular coat. Its inner surface is ar- 
ranged in irregular pentagonal cells, shallower and wider 
than those of the honey-comb, but nearly resembling them; 
hence this stomach is sometimes called the honey-comb. 



118 INTERNAL VIEW OF THE COW's STOMACH. 

Each of these divisions, especially the sides and base, is 
covered with minute prominences or fine papillae, which 
are secreting glands. 

The third stomach (e) is the smallest, and is called oma- 
sum, or many plus. It has a globular shape, and has a 
thinner muscular coat than the former. The internal struc- 
ture of this stomach is very singular. It consists of nu- 
merous broad lamina?, sent off from the internal coat in a 
longitudinal direction, alternately varying in breadth, and 
covered with small granular papillae. 

The fourth stomach (f) is the abomasum. It is of py- 
riform shape, and is next in size to the rumen. It has large 
longitudinal folds covered with villi, like the digestive 
portion of the stomach of the horse. The muscular coat of 
this stomach is still thinner than that of the former. The 
inner surface of the three first stomachs, is covered with a 
cuticle, whilst that of the fourth is lined by a true mucous 
or secreting membrane. 

( g) Denotes the duodenum or first intestine. 

(h) Marks the place where the biliary and pancreatic 
ducts enter the duodenum. 

It may be well in this place to remark, that by an ex- 
amination of the first plate, but more particularly of 
the second, a singular provision will be noticed by which 
the food can be received into the first and second stom- 
achs, or be carried on to the third or fourth, as is the case, 
after herbaceous substances and aliments of that description 
are thoroughly ground down by the process of rumination, 
(a) Is a continuation of the oesophagus through the stom- 
achs. (6) Marks the progress of the cesophagean canal, 
which is slit from the base of the gullet to the third stom- 
ach, in order to show the continuous roof of the canal, 
(c) Is the prolongation of the same canal, into and through 
the third stomach or rnanyplus, which may be known by 



INTERNAL VIEW OF THE COW'S STOMACH. 



119 



its leaves and serrated edges. (<i) Indicates the continu- 
ance of the canal into the abomasum or fourth stomach, 
which terminating at the pylorus, or lower orifice of the 
stomach, opens into the duodenum. 




(a) The oesophagus, {b) The commencement of the 
cesophagean canal, (cc) The rumen, (dd) The reticulum, 
(e) The omasum. (/) The abomasum. (g) The duodenum. 

The curious arrangement last referred to, is farther illus- 
trated in the first plate. The arrow (i) points out that 
section of the cesophagean canal, through which the gul- 
let communicates with the rumen. 



120 



PROCESS OF RUMINATION. 




The arrow (/c) indicates the place and direction of the 
communication between the same gullet and the second 
stomach. 

The third arrow (/), passing under the cesophagean 
canal, shows the place of direct communication between 
the rumen and the reticulum. 

(m) The supposed direction of the cesophagean canal 
to the third stomach, over the roof of the rumen and the 
second stomach. 

(ft) The passage through the third stomach, and en- 
trance into the fourth. 

Although the cesophagean canal leads directly into the 
rumen and reticulum, and thence through the third and 
fourth stomachs, it has been ascertained that the liquids 
drank by the animal, chiefly pass direct into the second 
stomach, the entrance into the first, by a contraction of the 
muscular pillars, being closed. In the case of the sucking 
calf, the milk passes directly on to the fourth, or true di- 
gesting stomach ; and the other stomachs, but particularly 
the rumen, appear in a measure to be useless. Hence the 
small size of the rumen compared with the abomasum in 
the calf that is fed entirely upon milk. 

Now let us see what happens during the digestive pro- 
cess. The food, after having undergone slight mastica* 



DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 121 

tions in the mouth, is swallowed and received into the ca- 
pacious reservoir called the rumen, and marked (c), which 
is situated directly under the base of the gullet, as represented 
in the plate. Here it remains for some time, and by the 
muscular action of the stomach, and the impulsive direc- 
tion of the papilla?, it is made to traverse its follicular 
compartments, whilst the moisture with which the food is 
surrounded contributes to soften it, and to prepare it for a 
second mastication. When the process of maceration is 
completed, the food is returned for rumination, by trans- 
ferring small portions of it at a time from the rumen into the 
reticulum or second stomach (d), in which there is always 
sufficient water and mucus for moistening the food that is 
introduced into it. By the contractile action of this stom- 
ach, the portion of macerated food just received from 
the rumen, is rolled up into a ball or pellet of suitable 
form to be thrown up the cesophagean canal into the 
mouth, where it is subjected to a second mastication, which 
is leisurely performed during the repose of the animal ; a 
process which is well known by the name of chewing the 
cud, or rumination, and which is continued until the appe- 
tite of the animal is appeased. 

When the mass, after being thoroughly ground down by 
the teeth, is again swallowed, it passes along the cesopha- 
gean canal, which changes its form at the entrance of the 
reticulum, through which the food glides into the omasum, 
or third stomach (e) ; and the orifice of this stomach being 
brought forward by means of the muscular bands, which 
form the ridges of the walls of the canal, when they con- 
tract every portion of food is effectually prevented from 
dropping into either of the preceding cavities. Sir Ever- 
ard Home describes this third stomach as being of the 
form of a crescent, and containing twenty- four sej)ta or 
folds in its inner membrane. These folds are placed paral- 

11 



122 DIGESTIVE PROCESS. 

lei to each other like the leaves of a book, excepting they 
are of unequal breadths, and that a narrower fold is placed 
between each of the broader ones. Whatever food is in- 
troduced into this cavity, must pass between these folds and 
describe three-fourths of a circle before it can arrive at the 
orifice leading to the abomasura, or fourth stomach (f), 
which is so near the third, that the distance between them 
does not exceed three inches. And as a farther demonstra- 
tion of the design and adaptation of this organ for the per- 
fect comminution of herbaceous substances, as Youatt re- 
marks, the articular covering of these leaves is peculiarly 
dense and strong, and thickly studded with little promin- 
ences ; so that when the leaf is examined, it exhibits a file- 
like hardness, that would be scarcely thought possible ; 
and it is evidently capable of acting like a file, or a little 
grindstone. These prominences are harder and larger to- 
wards the lower part of the leaf; and in the central leaves 
assume the form and office of little crotchets, or hooks, 
some of which have the hardness of horn, so that nothing 
fibrous or solid can escape them, until it is reduced to a 
pulpy mass. Clearer evidences of design for the perform- 
ance of specific functions, than is exhibited in the construc- 
tion of the omasum, cannot be imagined. 

It is, then, in the abomasum, or fourth stomach {jf), 
that the proper digestion of the food is performed ; and for 
this purpose it is lined with a soft villous membrane, and 
is traversed somewhat irregularly, yet longitudinally, with 
numerous folds. But the principal agent in digestion is the 
liquid called the gastric juice, which is secreted from the 
cellular glands with which this organ abounds. The sol- 
vent powers of this liquid having broken down the pulpy 
mass into a semi-homogeneous fluid called chyme, it passes 
through the lower opening of the pyloric into the duodenum 
(g) or first intestine, where its separation into the nutritive 



GENERAL DEDUCTIONS. 123 

and innutritive portions is effected , and the former begins 
to be taken up, and is carried into the system.* 

Such, then, as we have concisely described, and en- 
deavored to illustrate, is the admirable provision of nature 
for the perfect comminution and digestion of the food of 
an animal whose flesh and milk are destined to supply so 
important a part of human sustenance. Can it be that the 
complicated apparatus of the cow was designed for the 
digestion of distillery-slop, or food of that description 1 
From the teeth alone we are enabled to decide on the 
proper kind of aliment. Let then the common sense of the 
most illiterate man answer, whether slush or liquid diet 
would require such an array of cutting and grinding teeth, 
of salivary glands and stomachs for its digestion ? Reason 
answers no; facts, observation, and experience, demon- 
strate that the proper functions of the animal cannot be 
subserved, or its health maintained, by such an artificial 
and unnatural kind of food. It is evidently impossible to 
pervert the order and manifest designs of nature to such 
an extent with impunity. 

* The different length of the intestines in carnivorous and herbi- 
vorous animals is worthy of notice- The shortest, we believe, is that 
of some birds of prey, in which the intestinal canal is little more than 
a straight passage from the mouth to the vent. The longest is in the 
deer kind. The intestine of a Canadian stag, four feet high, measu r- 
ed ninety-six feet. {Man. Acad. Paris, 1701, p. 170.) The intestine 
of a sheep unravelled, measures thirty times the length of the body. 
The intestine of the wild-cat, is only three times the length of lh3 
body. Universally, when the substance upon which the animal feeds, 
is of slow concoction, or yields its chyle with more difficulty, then 
the passage is circuitous and dilatory, that time and space may be al- 
lowed for the change and the absorption which are necessary. 
When the food is soon dissolved, or already half assimilated, an 
unnecessary, or, perhaps, hurtful detention is avoided, by giving to it 
a shorter and a readier route. — Paley. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

APPROPRIATE FOOD, PURE AIR, AND EXERCISE, NECESSARY TO 
THE HEALTHY CONDITION OF DAIRY CATTLE. 

Temperature of food.— Liquid aliment improper.— Forming milk 
out of solid food. — Herbaceous matter adapted to the wants of 
the animal. — Healthy chyle. — Pure air necessary to health.— Inju- 
rious effects of foul air.— Exercise important to health. — Illus- 
trated by experiments. — Exercise an instinct. 

That the natural temperature of food for ruminant ani- 
mals is the most appropriate, appears too plain a proposi- 
tion to be disputed ; but in the general management of 
cows in the vicinity of populous places, this important fact 
is entirely disregarded. 

Man, it is true, is omnivorous. His stomach is nearly 
equally well adapted to the digestion of animal or vegeta- 
ble food, of solids or fluids. He is also a cooking animal, 
and can receive his food at varying temperatures. But it 
is different with ruminant animals. They are essentially 
herbivorous, and should receive this kind of aliment, at a 
natural temperature, before it has undergone certain chem- 
ical changes, and not, as is the case in the form of slop, 
reeking hot from the distillery. Their immense complex 
concocting organs must have something else to employ 
them besides receiving some thirty or forty gallons of slush 
per day, which contains but a small quantity of vegetable 
matter in the form of bran disseminated through it. To 
fulfil the obvious design of nature, they must have food 
which requires mastication. Without the power of rumi- 






MILK FROM NATURAL FOOD. 



125 



nation, or in familiar phrase, without a cud, they will lan- 
guish and die. Hence a little grass or hay cannot be dis- 
pensed with. But a little is not enough. They must 
have solid food in sufficient quantity to fill their stomachs. 
The cow that is fed on distillery-slop, so far as we know, 
uses but one of its four stomachs ; all the rest are idle ; of 
course, there must follow great functional derangement. 
And when this kind of diet is received into the system, it i 
rapidly sucked up by the thousand absorbent vessels, and 
thrown into the blood ; and before it becomes animalized, 
probably in the course of ten minutes, it begins to be 
strained through the organs of the udder, in the form of a 
blue, watery, insipid secretion, called milk. 

How very different is the process of forming milk out 
of solid food ! By the complicated apparatus already de- 
scribed, the food undergoes various modifications and 
changes. First, it is partially chewed and mixed with the 
saliva ; it then descends into the rumen, where it gradually 
traverses its various compartments, and is probably re- 
retained several hours, until it is thoroughly macerated ; 
next it is passed into the reticulum in small portions, and 
there being softened and covered with mucus, by a kind of 
anti-peristaltic action it is tlrown into the mouth. Here, 
" by a compound motion of the lower jaw, half lateral and 
half vertical," leisurely repeated from thirty to forty times, 
on each cud or pellet, the second process of mastication is 
completed j* and being reduced to a proper consistence, it 
is again swallowed, and glides directly into the omasum 

• Dr. Paley remarks, that the gratification also of the animal is 
very probably renewed and prolonged by this faculty of rumination. 
Sheep, deer, and oxen, appear to be in a state of enjoyment whilst 
they are chewing the cud. It is then, perhaps, that they best relish 
their food. 

11* 



126 



HERBACEOUS ALIMENT. 



where it sustains some changes not well understood. It 
next passes into the abornasum, or last stomach, where it 
is mixed with certain fluids equivalent to the gastric juice 
in the human stomach, and thus is converted into a soft 
pulpy mass called chyme, from which the small vessels of 
a portion of the digestive tube, still lower down, called 
lacteals, by a peculiar power which may be denominated 
vital chemistry, manufacture that bland fluid, chyle, which 
contains in itself all the ultimate elements of animal bodies. 
This, then, is an elaborated animalized product, containing 
an abundance of oxygen and carbon, with some nitrogen, 
and fitted for conversion into albumen, gelatin, fibrin, or 
any of the proximate elements of animal bodies. The 
blood formed from it is consequently rich in all the ele- 
ments which are required to supply the wastes, and build 
up the various tissues of the system. Of course, the milk 
secreted from it is highly animalized, and essentially a 
vital product ; and its separation from the blood is not a 
mere mechanical straining off, from vessels distended with 
an unnatural quantity of watery fluid, as when the animal 
is gorged with distillery-slop. 

In cows thus fed, it is highly probable there is very 
little if any chyle formed ; in fact, there is very little if any 
appropriate matter to make it out of. It is known that 
the food of animals must necessarily consist of one of the 
three great stamina! principles, a saccharine, an oily, 
or an albuminous principle. Thus gramineous and herb- 
aceous matters, on which ruminants feed, contain two 
of these, viz. the saccharine and the glutinous, which 
is a modification of the albuminous, while every part of 
an animal contains albumen and oil. But how much sac- 
charine matter can it be supposed is left in the slop of the 
distillery or in brewers' grains, after, by the process of fer- 



HEALTHY CHYLE, PURE AIR. 127 

mentation, all the alcohol that can be obtained is extracted 
from it 1 Spirit or alcohol is the direct product of the sac- 
charine portion of the grains ; and as it is rapidly de- 
veloped by fermentation, it is hardly probable that any 
remains behind undecomposed. As gluten is insoluble in 
water, and does not so readily ferment as the saccharine 
principle, it is probable that brewers' grains contain a 
considerable quantity of it. Indeed, it may be said to 
contain the only nutritious principle that can be ob- 
tained from them. It is fully established by the experi- 
ments of Majendie and other physiologists, that a diet, to 
be complete, must contain more or less of these three 
stamina] principles. Such at least must be the diet of man. 
Although animals may form a chyle, and even live a while 
on one of these classes of aliments, yet it is impossible that 
they can do so for a great length of time. No proper 
chyle can be obtained from the digestion of such food ; 
consequently no healthy blood can be formed, and none of 
the secretions be healthy. This, then, is another import- 
ant reason why the health of cows cannot be maintained 
on distillery-slop and similar kinds of food. 

Healthy chyle is so similar in its properties to blood, 
that it has been called liquid blood ; and Vauquelin, a cel- 
ebrated chemist, even regards it as fibrin in an imperfect 
state. But when the food, as is the case with distillery slop, 
is of such a nature that proper chyle cannot be formed 
from it, we would naturally expect, when used and taken 
up by the absorbents, that the entire system would be filled 
with the watery and inn utritious fluid, and such, as will sub- 
sequently appear, is the actual condition of animals so fed. 
Such food contains no carbon, which constitutes the greater 
proportion of fibrin, or muscular fibre ; of course no fibre 
or flesh could be formed, for the very good reason that there 



128 HEALTHY CHYLE, PURE AIR. 

is nothing present to furnish the materials essential to its 
formation. In view of these facts, though uninstructed by 
experience, as to the actual results, we might confidently 
anticipate the deleterious effects which are known to take 
place, and must ever be consequent upon the use of un- 
wholesome and insufficient food. 

But there are other conditions which are essential to 
the health of these animals, which may be concisely no- 
ticed. 

First, Pure air is indispensably necessary. Any other 
conclusion than this, would be as contrary to the known 
laws of life and health, as to the common sense of man- 
kind. But while it will be admitted without argument, as 
it relates to the physical wants of man, the unfortunate 
animals under consideration are treated as if they were an 
exception to the general laws of organic life. Yet what 
is true of man, regarded merely as an animal, is also true 
of the higher species of irrational creatures. There 
exists in each, allowing for the difference of their destina- 
tions, the same necessity for pure air, suitable exercise, and 
nutrient food, " simply modified according to the wants 
of the individuarspecies." 

Some of the lower classes of animated existence, are 
fitted by nature to live in stagnant pools, and even in pu- 
trefacted substances ; but as we ascend in the scale of be- 
ing to the higher orders of animals, it is well known that 
they can only be sustained in health and vigor by the in- 
spiration of pure air. A certain definite proportion of three 
aeriform substances is found absolutely necessary to vi- 
tality ; and as the balance of these proportions is 
disturbed by the introduction of noxious substances, the at- 
mosphere becomes impure and deadly. The effects of liv- 
ing in foul air, are manifested by the debility which en- 



EXERCISE. 129 

sues — impaired digestion — depression of the vital func- 
tions, and oftentimes the generation of diseases of the most 
malignant and fatal character. Now as air is rendered im- 
pure by every thing which impedes its circulation, but es- 
pecially by the breath and perspiration of animals crowded 
together in small and close apartments — the presence of 
excrements, and stench, and putrifying animal and vegeta- 
ble matter, which, even with the strictest regard to clean- 
liness, unavoidably accumulates by immuring them in con- 
fined stables, such a condition, in the absence of all other 
prejudicial causes, cannot fail to prove destructive to health 
and life. 

Second, Exercise. It is as evidently the design of na- 
ture that cattle should enjoy that bodily activity which is 
produced by the natural action of their own limbs, in mov- 
ing from place to place for the means of subsistence, as it 
is that vegetables be left undisturbed in the soil from which 
they imbibe their nourishment. " The kind of food," 
says Dr. Roget, " which nature has assigned to each par- 
ticular race of animals, as well as their structure, has an 
important influence, not merely on its internal organiza- 
tion, but also on its active powers and disposition ; for the 
faculties of animals, as well as their structure, have a close 
relation to the circumstances connected with their subsis- 
tence." In relation to this subject the same writer 
farther remarks : " The activity of the digestive functions, 
and the structure of the organs, will also be regulated by 
a great variety of other circumstances in the condition of 
the animal, independent of the mechanical or chemical na- 
ture of the food. The greater the energy with which the 
peculiarly animal functions of sensation and muscular action 
are exercised, the greater must be the demand for nourish- 
ment, in order to supply the expenditure of vital force ere- 



130 EFFECTS OF EXERCISE. 

ated by these exertions."* Cattle were necessarily endured 
with powers of locomotion in order to seek their own sub- 
sistence ; and it is self evident that they cannot be condemned 
to a torpid vegetable condition with impunity. 

Jenner, and very recently Dr. Baron, have made some 
curious experiments on animals, which indicate that a loss 
of their open range and natural nourishment, has with 
them a tendency to disorganize and destroy. Dr. Baron 
placed a family of young rabbits in a confined situation, 
and fed them with coarse green food, such as cabbage and 
grass. They were perfectly healthy when put up ; in about 
a month one of them died : the primary stop of disorgani- 
zation was evinced in a number of transparent vesicles 
studded over the external surface of the liver. 

In another, which died nine days after, the disease had 
advanced to the formation of tubercles on the liver. The 
liver of a third, which died four days later still, had nearly 
lost its true structure, so universally was it pervaded with tu- 
bercles. Two days subsequently a fourth died ; a consid- 
erable number of hydatids were attached to the lower sur- 
face of the liver. At this time Dr. Baron removed three 
young rabbits from the place where their companions had 
died to another situation, dry and clean, and to their proper 
and accustomed food. The lives of these remaining three 
were obviously saved by this change. He obtained simi- 
lar results from experiments of the same nature performed 
on other animals. 

Nature, ever unerring in her instincts, prompts the 
bounding frolics of young animals, as well as the more 
clumsy gambols of the old. " There must," remarks Ad- 
dison, " be frequent motions, agitations, to mix, digest, and 

* Roget's Bridgewater Treatise. Vol. II. p. 65. 



EFFECTS OF EXERCISE. 131 

separate the juices contained in the body, as well to clear 
and cleanse that infinitude of pipes and strainers of which 
it is composed, as to give their solid part a more firm 
and lasting tone. — Exercise ferments the humors, casts 
them into their proper channels, throws off redundances, and 
helps nature in those secret distributions, without which 
the body cannot subsist in vigor." And in order to this 
healthy action of the vital functions, it is not sufficient that 
exercise be taken occasionally and at long intervals, but, 
when the season permits, it should be taken daily. Com- 
mon sense and observation, independent of physiological 
knowledge, might lead us to the conclusion, that^any other 
management of cattle than that here suggested, must lead to 
the derangement of health, and fatal diseases. 



CHAPTER XV. 

ACTUAL CONDITION OF THE DAIRIES. 

Food of dairy cows. — Their number. — Management. — Effects.— Con- 
dition and temperature of the food. — Distillery-slop dairies. — 
Average quantity of slop consumed. 

Having in the foregoing chapter considered some of the 
conditions which are essential to the health of milch cows, 
and to the secretion of nutritious and wholesome milk, it 
is important next to inquire how these conditions are ful- 
filled in regard to the dairies which furnish, our cities 
with this indispensable article; for all departures from 
these conditions must, in proportion to their degree, have 
an injurious effect on the animals themselves, and also on 
the quality of their milk. 

First, Food. When public attention was first called to 
this subject, as near as the writer was able to ascertain, 
there were in the vicinity of the cities of New-York and 
Brooklyn five hundred dairies, averaging about twenty 
cows each ; and the whole number, excepting some five 
or six that were supplied with brewers' 1 grains, were fed 
on distillery-slop. 

One of the most notorious of these overgrown metro- 
politan milk-establishments, or rather the largest collection 
of slop-dairies, for there are many proprietors, is that con- 
nected with Johnson's grain-distilleries, which are situated 
in the western suburbs of the city, near the termination, 
and between Fifteenth and Sixteenth streets, in New-York. 
The area occupied by the concern, includes the greater 



SLOP DAIRIES. 133 

part of two squares, extending from below the Ninth Ave- 
nue to the Hudson River, probably a distance of one thou- 
sand feet. During the winter season, about two thousand 
cows are said to be kept on the premises, but in summer the 
number is considerably reduced. The food of the cows, of 
course, is slop, which being drawn off into large tanks, ele- 
vated some ten or fifteen feet, is thence conducted in close 
square wooden gutters, and distributed to the different cow- 
pens, where it is received into triangular troughs, rudely con- 
structed by the junction of two boards. The range of the 
pens being interrupted by the intersection of the Tenth 
Avenue, the slop is conveyed by means of a gutter under- 
ground to the opposite side of the road, where it is received 
into a capacious reservoir, and thence conducted to the 
pens, which extend to the margin of the river. In the vi- 
cinity of Brooklyn there is a similar establishment, which 
contains about seven hundred cows ; and in the neighbor- 
hood of that city and of New-York there are numerous 
smaller concerns, where the cattle are fed in like manner, 
by receiving the slop smoking hot directly from the distille- 
ries. In the far greater number of cases, however, the 
dairies are too far from the distilleries to be supplied in 
this way. The slop is therefore carted in vast quantities 
from the distilleries in hogsheads, to the smaller milk 
establishments, which are numerously scattered in the 
suburbs and neighborhoods of the cities to the distance of 
several miles.* 

* Since the above was written, the author, accompanied by L. 
Jackson, Esq , re- visited some of the whisky and slop-milk manufac- 
tories in New-York, Brooklyn, Williamsburg, Bushwick, the Wal- 
labout, and vicinities, for the purpose of information. He learned 
that at some of the establishments in these places, an unusual mor- 
tality had recently occurred amongst the milch cows. The fact 
itself was indisputable, but owing to the unwillingness, not to say 

12 



134 SLOP DAIRIES. 

The daily average quantity of slop for a cow, is about 
a barrel of thirty-two gallons. At first we were incredu- 
lous as to the amount they learn to consume ; but after many 

incivility, of the persons who supposed it was their interest to con- 
ceal the truth, nothing very definite in relation to the nature and ex- 
tent of the disease was obtained. Some of the distilleries, we ob- 
served, had been enlarged, and others were undergoing repairs, 
which occasioning a tempor y failure of slop, the dairymen were 
carting it across the E;,st River from New-York, for the supply of 
their cattle. The slop concerns and distilleries, though somewhat 
improved in appearance since public attention had been directed to 
them, n still spoken of by the inhabitants in the neighborhoods as 
nuisances of so offensive a character as to prevent the improvement 
of property in their vicinity ; whilst their present vile condition, too 
truly indicated the nature of the evils they were continuing to inflict 
on more distant portions of the community. The most careful in- 
quiries, however, failed to elicit any new information of interest ; but 
we everywhere received the fullest confirmation of the facts and 
principles which are spread throughout this work. 

In the course of the tour, we visited the large rum-distillery of 
Messrs. Scneder, Schenck and Rutherford, near the South Ferry, 
Brooklyn. We were not disappointed in failing of admittance into 
the concern, for it is common to all these establishments which are 
battening on the spoils of an injured community, to conceal as far as 
possible their operations from the public eye. It was, however, of 
little consequence, for there were other means of information at 
hand, and much that was open to observation. We were informed 
that fr> s-'ii:,. hundred to one thousand bushels of grain are daily 
converted into whisky at this distillery, the refuse of which would 
suffice to slop two thousand cows ; and that about fifty head of cattle, 
and from . e to seven hundred swine, were fattening on ihe premises. 
No milch cows are there kept; but we counted eighty-seven carts 
and wagons, containing an aggregate of one hundred and twenty-nine 
hogsheads, apparently waiting for slush, exclusive of numerous others 
which were going and returning from the premises. The hour of 
our visit (3 o'clock P. M.) was inopportune to witness the daily de- 
livery of the sloj . The greatest activity in the business is from 4 
to 8 o'clock morning and evening, during which time an incessant 
stream of carts is seen issuing from the distillery, laden with slop for 
the supply of the neighboring dairies. 



FEEDING CATTLE. 135 

careful inquiries at many dairies, the fact is rendered certain. 
Now it is evident that no cow in health would eat such an 
enormous quantity of slop. By feeding on this unnatural 
and stimulating food, they are thrown into a state of dis- 
ease, and for a short time will feed monstrously, and yie.d 
large quantities of bad milk. 

The dairyman, judging indeed correctly, from the con- 
dition and mechanical texture of this fluid kind of food, 
that its second mastication is as unnecessary as it is in fact 
impracticable, and apprehending that his cattle will speedily 
die by an entire cessation of rumination, known by the fami- 
liar term the loss of cud, is urged by his fears to give them 
some hay or other herbaceous food. A cow will eat eigh- 
teen or twenty pounds of hay per day. The estimated al- 
lowance for those that are fed on slop, is three pounds per 
head ; but we are assured that very few get even half 
that quantity, and probably, as will subsequently appear, 
for the best reason in the world, — the diseased condition of 
their teeth renders the mastication of solid food impossi- 
ble. The greater proportion of these milkmen, it is said, 
feed no gramineous food at all ; certain it is, that those 
who feed slop, give no more hay than they deem necessary 
to keep their cattle alive. Numerous men, of good char- 
acter for veracity, who have relinquished the slop-milk 
business for conscience sake, testify that such is the prac- 
tice. But in the absence of names, which cannot with pro- 
priety be here introduced, there is presumptive proof that 
such is the fact. Why is slop fed at all ? We answer, 
because it yields more milk at a cheaper rate, than any 
other kind of food. The dairyman will at once concede 
that his object is gain, and that the more slop, the greater 
his profits. So long, therefore, as he can sell slop-milk, it 
is his interest to gorge his cattle with the food which pro- 



136 TEMPERATURE OF FOOD. 

duces it in the greatest abundance. And leaving the in- 
humanity of thus prematurely destroying the health and 
lives of his cattle out of the question, he does not by this 
course of feeding pecuniarily suffer. For when they be- 
come so diseased as to be no longer profitable for the dairy, 
they are sent to the cattle market, and their place is sup- 
plied by fresh stock. So far, therefore, as the kind of food 
is concerned, such, concisely, is the condition of the New- 
York milk dairies. With very few exceptions, all the 
cows are most inhumanly condemned to subsist on this most 
unnatural aliment ; and the milk thus produced, is not 
only inconsiderately regarded as of indispensable necessity 
in our households, but is the pernicious sustenance on which 
we depend as the staple diet for children. 

Second. The condition and temperature of the food. We 
have anticipated in another place, some things which be- 
long to this head, but a few more facts may be appropri- 
ately stated under it. The kind of food, we have seen, is 
the most unnatural ; it is now proposed to show that it is 
eaten in an improper and unnatural state. At the dis- 
tilleries, the slop is drawn off hot into tanks, at short inter- 
vals through the day, and in this state is distributed and 
eaten by the cows on the premises, and also by those in 
the adjacent parts, as before it cools it may be transported 
to a considerable distance. It is considered more drastic 
at a high temperature, and is preferred in that state, because 
it then forces itself more rapidly through the system into 
the milk pail, although when hot it most seriously injures 
the teeth and general health of the animals fed upon it. 
As this kind of food, however, is instrinsically deleterious in 
any condition, whether hot or cold, it is not important to 
determine which is worst. — When drawn from the still, 
moreover, the slop is so powerfully acid as rapidly to cor- 



TEMPERATURE OF FOOD. 137 

rode iron ; and yet it is often suffered to run into a second 
state of fermentation before it is eaten. But without en- 
larging on particulars, we think it must appear as obvious 
to every intelligent mind, as it is demonstrable by facts and 
physiological principles, that this unnatural food in the 
condition in which it is consumed, cannot fail to destroy 
the health of the animals that subsist upon it, and so de- 
teriorate the quality of their milk, as to render it unfit for 
human sustenance. 



12* 



CHAPTER XVI. 

CONDITION OF THE DAIRIES, CONTINUED. 

Personal testimony on the subject. — Description of a dairy.— Ar- 
rangement of the cattle pen?. — Interior of the stables. — Confine- 
ment of the milch-cows. — Consequences of this treatment. 

In the preceding remarks, the writer has avoided theo- 
retical deductions, because they are less conclusive than 
those derived from ascertained facts. And while it would 
have been comparatively easy in prosecuting his inquiries 
to have received second-hand testimony, he has preferred 
to be guided by his own researches when he could rely 
upon them, rather than upon the vague observations of 
others, which, having been made without a specific object, 
are often too uncertain to lead to determinate results. It is 
obvious, that, in pursuing this course, nothing but the full- 
est confidence in his own statements, could have induced 
him to make them public. For if he has misapprehended 
facts, or wilfully perverted them, or arrived at conclu- 
sions which the premises do not justify, in either case it is 
in the power of every one in this community to obtain cor- 
rect information on the subject, expose the fallacy of his 
reasonings, and correct his mistakes. But though such is 
his position in relation to the inquiry, he fearlessly chal- 
lenges for it the most rigid investigation. This, he be- 
lieves, will remove all uncertainty, and lay every inquirer 
under the necessity of acquiescing in the statements so 
confidently made. 



DESCRIPTION OF A DAIRY. 139 

Is any one, for illustration, still skeptical as to the per- 
nicious quality of the milk with which he is supplied, or as 
to the patronage he is indirectly giving the distiller, 
though he uses not a drop of alcohol in any form as a 
beverage, let him accompany his milkman to his dairy, 
and, nineteen chances out of twenty, his doubts will be re- 
moved by a full demonstration of the facts insisted upon. 
If the wind is in the right quarter, he will smell the dairy 
a mile off; and on reaching it, his visual and nasal organs 
will, without any affectation of squeamishness, be so offend- 
ed at the filth and effluvia which abounds, that still-slop 
milk will probably become the object of his unutterable 
loathing the remainder of his life. His attention will 
probably be first drawn to a huge distillery, sending out 
its tartarian fumes, and, blackened with age and smoke, 
casting a sombre air all around. Contiguous thereto, he 
will see numerous low, flat pens, in which many hundreds 
of cows, owned by different persons, are closely huddled 
together, amid confined air, and the stench of their ow r n 
excrements. He will also see the various appendages and 
troughs to conduct and receive the hot slush from the still 
with which to gorge the stomachs of these unfortunate 
animals, and all within an area of a few hundred yards. 
He will discern, moreover, numerous slush-carts in waiting 
and in motion, for the supply of distant dairies ; empty 
milk-wagons returning, and others with replenished cans, 
as constantly departing. Moored off in the distance, he 
will, perhaps, discover a schooner discharging her freight 
of golden grain into huge carts, each drawn by four oxen, 
employed to convey it to the distillery mill, which, grind- 
ing at the rate of one hundred bushels per hour, rapidly 
converts the nutritious substance into slop and whisky, to 
" scatter fire-brands, arrows and death," through the com- 
munity. 



140 CATTLE PENS. 

This sketch, though drawn from actual observation, 
very inadequately represents one of the still-slop milk and 
whisky manufactories, in the vicinity of New- York. De- 
scription, to be effective, must be more minute. Many per- 
sons, it is true, may, by a few minutes' ride from the city, 
witness the original for themselves ; and any doubts as to 
the evils of the system, and the support they give it while 
they continue to use the products of the concern, will be 
no longer possible. But as there are many other persons, 
equally interested, who cannot as eye-witnesses inform 
themselves on the subject, it may be useful to state some 
additional particulars relative to the large concern before 
mentioned, as a specimen of other similar establishments. 

The situation of Johnson's distilleries, and the manner 
of feeding the cattle with hot slop by means of gutters, etc., 
has already been given. The dairies have been formed 
around the distilleries, for the purpose of consuming on the 
spot the slop refuse of this extensive concern, which, as we 
were informed, distils about one thousand bushels of grain 
daily. The cow-pens are rude, unsightly wooden build- 
ings, varying from fifty to two hundred feet in length, and 
about thirty feet in breadth. They are very irregularly 
arranged, so as to cover the entire ground, excepting nar- 
row avenues between ; and appear to have been tempo- 
rarily constructed, as the arrival of new dairies required en- 
largements for their accommodation. It is said they will 
contain about two thousand head of cattle, but this esti- 
mate, we would judge, is an exaggeration. The stalls are 
rented by the proprietor of the distilleries to the different 
cow owners, at from four to five dollars a year per each 
head of cattle, while the slop is furnished at nine cents a 
barrel.* Slop constituting both food and drink, water 

* The price of slop is not uniform, but is varied by the value of 
grain. It has been as low as 6j cents per barrel. 



CATTLE PENS. 141 

and hay or other solid or gramineous fodder, supply no 
part of the wants of these abused animals. The fluid 
element, indeed, appears not to be in request for purifying 
purposes. Fountains of pure water, extensive hay-ricks, 
capacious out-houses, and similar conveniences, which are 
ordinarily deemed so important for the feeding and water- 
ing so large a stock, are here dispensed with as unnecessa- 
ry appendages to a city dairy. 

The interior of the pens corresponds with the general 
bad arrangement and repulsive appearance of the exterior. 
Most of the cattle stand in rows of from seven to ten across 
the building, head to head and tail to tail alternately. There 
is a passage in the rear for cleaning, and another in front 
which gives access to the heads of the cattle. The floor 
is gently inclined, but no litter is allowed. The stalls are 
three feet wide, with a partition between each, and a 
ceiling about seven feet high overhead. But the chief and 
most inexcusable defects are the want of ventilation and 
cleanliness, though in the latter respect, since public at- 
tention has been called to their vile condition, they are 
somewhat improved. There appears, however, no con- 
trivance for washing the pens, or by which a circulation 
of air can be produced. We have before adverted to the 
tainted air and intolerable stench in the vicinity of these 
regions of filth. To scent the effluvia as it is diluted and 
diffused in the surrounding atmosphere, it is true, is suffi- 
ciently offensive, and the visitor will instinctively retire in 
dread of closer proximity. But to survey the premises 
round about, and merely to look into the pens, will but in- 
adequately convey an idea of the disgusting reality. 
Neither is it sufficient to enter into them while empty with 
the impression that the worst can be imagined. This is a 
delusion. If we would have the evidence of our senses, 



142 CATTLE PENS. 

without the possibility of a mistake, we must try them. 
Let the visitor go into the midst of the pens, when crowded 
with cattle, in summer, as the writer has done, and inhale 
but one breath of the polluted air, and an inexpressible 
impression of heart-sickening disgust will be produced, 
which time will never efface. Exaggerated description 
here is out of the question ; there can scarcely be an ex- 
aggeration of the facts ; and let no one make this 
charge until he has himself made the experiment, under the 
like circumstances. The astonishment is, that animal life, 
with all its wonderful recuperative energies, and power of 
accommodation to circumstances, can exist in so fetid an 
atmosphere. Nor will the overpowering disgust produced 
be in any degree relieved by the spectacle of sick, dying, 
and dead cattle, as was the case during a recent visit of 
the writer, and which, under this wretched management, 
cannot fail to be of frequent occurrence. 

Such, then, as described, is the barbarous and unnatural 
treatment of this docile, inoffensive and unfortunate ani- 
mal, that is destined to supply us with nutriment, both 
when living and dead, and which is one of the most valu- 
able gifts of Providence to ungrateful men. Here, in a 
stagnant and empoisoned atmosphere that is saturated with 
the hot steam of whisky slop, and loaded with carbonic acid 
gas, and other impurities arising from the breath, the per- 
spiration, and excrements of hundreds of sickly cattle, they 
are condemned to live, or rather to die on rum-slush. For 
the space of nine months, they are usually tied to the same 
spot, from which, if they live so long, they are not permit- 
ted to stir, excepting, indeed, they become so diseased as 
to be utterly useless for the dairy. They are, in a word, 
never unloosed while they are retained as milkers. In some 
few cases the cattle have stood in the same stalls for fifteen 



CATTLE PENS. 143 

or eighteen months ; but so rapid is the progress of disease 
under this barbarous treatment, that such instances are ex- 
ceptions to the general rule, and of very rare occurrence. 
Facts show that all the conditions necessary to the main- 
tenance of health and life, are recklessly violated to an ex- 
tent which, if not well authenticated, might appear incredi- 
ble in a Christian community. Of course, by a law of phy- 
sical nature, the digestion of the animals becomes impair- 
ed, the secretions vitiated, loathsome and fatal diseases are 
engendered, and if not seasonably slaughtered, and eaten 
by our citizens, the abused creatures die, and their flayed 
carcases are thrown into the river. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CAUSE INFERRED FROM THE EFFECTS. 

Injurious consequences of slop on the health of cattle. — Its stimula- 
ting effects on the stomach and intestines. — Foul air. — Depriva- 
tion of exercise. — Diseased cattle slaughtered for the markets. 

Having in the preceding chapters considered some of 
the conditions which are essential to the health of herbi- 
vorous animals, and to the healthy character of their lac- 
tescent secretions, and having shown that these conditions 
are flagrantly outraged in the management of city dairies, 
we now proceed, a posteriori, to infer the cause from the 
effects. In other words, as the object is to exhibit facts, 
rather than to defend a position, it is proposed to prove by 
the results, that the unnatural treatment described, actually 
destroys the health of the cow,"and deteriorates the healthy 
and nutrient properties of the milk. 

First, the effects on the health of cattle. It may be pre- 
mised that, " nature has endowed brutes with an acute- 
ness of the various senses, and with a degree of instinct, 
which so far as their life and enjoyment and usefulness are 
concerned, fully compensate for the lack of human intelli- 
gence. The quadruped is scarcely born ere it is myste- 
riously guided, and without any lessons of experience, to 
the kind of food which affords the most suitable nourish- 
ment, and it is warned from that which would be delete- 
rious."* Guided by this mysterious instinct, the cow at 

* Youatt on Cattle, p, 445. 



HEALTH OF CATTLE. 145 

first will no more drink distillery slop, than the child whose 
appetite is undepraved will drink ardent spirit. It is said 
that some cows cannot be induced to eat this kind of food. 
But as the hotter the slop, the greater the aversion, in 
order to overcome this repugnance, it is at first given cold; 
and by depriving the cattle of water, keeping them on short 
allowance of food, giving them only such as is dry w T ith 
abundance of salt to excite thirst, they, in time, generally 
learn to love the nauseous slush, as men acquire a relish for 
intoxicating drinks. Eventually, indeed, they become vo- 
raciously fond of this kind of food ; and if they fail of their 
usual supply, they will paw and rave and indicate all the 
uneasiness of the drunkard who is deprived of his accus- 
tomed drams. 

This aliment, from its stimulating power upon the sto- 
mach and intestines, produces an artificial thirst, which 
induces the cattle to swallow three times the quantity that 
is necessary of suitable food, for their proper nourishment. 
It, of course, unduly excites the absorbent and secretory 
organs ; the blood becomes serous and innutritious ; the flu- 
ids bearing an undue proportion to the solids, are voided 
in preternatural quantities ; — hence the quantity of slush 
milk they yield. The flesh becomes flaccid, with a peculiar 
tendency to putrescence ; the teeth decay and drop out ; 
scabs and cutaneous eruptions sometimes appear ; and not 
unfrequently the hair falls off, which gives the hide the ap- 
pearance of having been scalded. 

But the want of pure air, and exercise, not less than 
improper food, operates deleteriously on the health of the 
animals. They sometimes lose their feet at the navicular 
bones, or articulation of the first joint; their hoofs often 
become elongated several inches and curved upwards, and 
withal so tender as to produce lameness, and nearly deprive 

13 



146 DEPRIVATION OF EXERCISE. 

them of the power of locomotion. The muscles being de- 
prived of the action necessary to send into them the supply 
of blood which is essential to their increase of size and 
strength, become at length attenuated and relaxed, and in- 
capable of performing their functions. Glandular swell- 
ings in consequence of the torpor of the arterial circulation, 
are not infrequent ; and cases have occurred where, owing 
to lameness from debility or disease, and sometimes by a 
paralysis of the limbs, the cattle, unable to stand, have been 
supported by straps passed under the body, and yet have 
been retained as milkers. It is not meant, however, that 
the general description given, is the precise condition of 
every cow that is kept on slop diet, or that any individual 
animal is afflicted with the complication of maladies refer- 
red to ; for the treatment of the cattle may vary in important 
respects, and the constitutional vigor of some, favored by 
circumstances, may longer resist the combined effects of 
bad food, foul air, and deficient exercise, than others. But 
the conclusion of which we are certain, and upon which 
we insist, is this, that distillery slop, in proportion to the 
quantity consumed and the management usually consequent 
thereupon, produces the effects above described, and of 
course, is unhealthy and improper; and it is self-evident, that 
the lactic secretions, and also the flesh of such animals, are 
only fit to be thrown into our rivers. 

But thousands of these cattle, after having become so 
diseased as to possess no value for the dairy, are every year 
slaughtered in our markets and eaten by our citizens. As 
is common in scrofula, consumption, and some other diseases 
which are most fatal in the spring, so is it in the mortality 
of these still-fed cows, especially in the months of March, 
April and May, when they are crowded into the cattle 
market, where they may be seen in droves of several hun- 



DISEASED CATTLE. 147 

dreds every week. It is the policy and interest of the 
dairymen, to part with those first which they are in the 
greatest danger of losing ; and also that they be removed 
from the stalls to the shambles in the shortest possible time. 
For as the vessels of the animals which have been distend- 
ed with serum, become depleted, they not only rapidly 
lose weight, but also their good appearance ; and as they 
refuse to eat, and indeed, from the condition of their teeth, 
are unable to masticate solid food, if not killed, they must 
speedily die of starvation or disease. When slaughtered, 
the effluvium of the carcase is intolerably offensive, which 
subsequent exposure to the air does not entirely remove ; 
and the flesh must be sold as quickly as possible, or it will 
putrify on the dealer's hands. A butcher with his eyes 
bandaged, by the peculiar smell of slop-fed beef, will se- 
lect out every piece in the market. The flesh being dis- 
tended with serum, or a thin bloody fluid, when cooked, 
either by roasting or boiling, will shrivel up to the bone, 
or be reduced, perhaps, to one half its original dimensions, 
a fact which is familiar to every cook or kitchen maid, al- 
though they are unable to account for. The business of 
slaughtering these cattle is disreputable ; and no butcher 
who values his reputation would willingly be known as a 
" slop-beef dealer." They say, however, the flesh though 
a little darker is very juicy, and sometimes well flavored, 
and they generally appear not to be aware that it is un- 
wholesome ; yet all agree, that either from its loose, pulpy 
fibre, or some other undefined cause, it will not retain salt 
like other meat, and very soon becomes putrid — which 
facts, according to settled physiological principles, beyond 
all others demonstrate its unhealthy properties. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

OTHER DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE EFFECTS OF PERNICIOUS 
DIET. 

The teeth. — Testimony, with illustrations. — Some exceptions thereto. 
— Consequences not peculiar to ca tile.— Swine affected by it. — How 
kept in Philadelphia. — Testimony of distillers. — Feeding swine on 
slop unprofitable. — Mortality among cows. — Report of a com- 
mittee. — Diseased meat unfit for food. — On whom the correction 
of the evil depends. 

As the teeth constitute an essential part of the animal 
structure, it may be useful to refer to them more particularly 
than we have yet done, for proof of the deleterious effects 
of improper diet on the general health of cattle. 

Like the other organs of the body, the teeth are supplied 
with nerves, blood-vessels and absorbents ; they, of course, 
possess a principle of vitality, and are governed by the 
same physical laws. It is evident, therefore, that whilst a 
violation of these laws diseases the system, the healthy con- 
dition of the teeth and gums must suffer in the general 
derangement. On this point, the deductions of reason, com- 
mon observation, and the investigations of scientific phy- 
siologists, not only harmonize, but the truth is a general 
one, which as legitimately applies to many of the lower 
orders of animals, as to the human species. In demon- 
stration of this position, we need only examine the teeth of 
cows that are fed on distillery slop, or other unnatural ali- 
ment. The teeth of such cattle speedily become affected 
with dental gangrene or decay, and also blackened and en- 
crusted with a substance called salivary calculus, or tartar, 



EFFECTS OF SLOP. 



149 



which is deposited from the saliva. In some cases that we 
have seen, the teeth were corroded down to the gums ; and 
according to the descriptions of other cases that have heen 
furnished, ulcerations were found at the roots of the fangs, 
occasioned, doubtless, by the acrid humors generated in 
the blood by pernicious food, and the teeth thus becoming 
loosened in their sockets actually drop out. But the subject 
cannot, probably, be more forcibly illustrated, than has 
already been done by Burdell, whose attention was parti- 
cularly directed to its consideration, in his work on den- 
tistry. Having stated as his opinion that whatever is in- 
jurious to the general welfare of the system affects the teeth 
as a part of that system, he proceeds to remark : 

" But perhaps one of the most striking proofs of the posi- 
tion I take, is to be drawn from the effects which a devia- 
tion from the natural food has upon the lower orders of 
animals." 

No. I. 




(Teeth of a Cow fed on natural diet.) 

" The above drawing exhibits a portion of the jaw of a 
cow which has fed upon natural food. It will be observed 

13* 



150 



EFFECTS OF SLOP. 



that the teeth are perfectly healthy, and the enamel sound ; 
the alveolar processes are not diseased ; there is no ac- 
cumulation of tartar between these teeth, but they are firm 
and white. I next present a specimen from my cabinet of 
a different character. 




Teeth of a Cow fed on artificial diet. 

"The animal from which this latter drawing is taken, 
is of about the same age as the preceding ; but instead of 
being keptupon the natural food, the animal was fed upon 
what is called "still-slop," which was received hot from 
an adjacent distillery. Here it will be seen, first, that the 
whiteness of the teeth is gone, — in other words, they have 
lost their enamel. In fact, the teeth on each side of the 
jaw are the only ones on which any enamel can be seen. 
Nor is the decay confined to the enamelled portion ; even 
the bony part of the teeth has suffered ; these teeth are 
evidently smaller than those in the preceding plate, al- 
though the jaw is of the same size. Caries have also af- 
fected them, as can be easily seen by observing the black 
spots in the teeth. The alveolar processes have likewise 
taken part in the disease ; ulcers have formed at the roots 
of the teeth, the portion of the bone opposite these roots 



burdell's testimony. 151 

has become affected and has broken off, and one of the 
teeth is also gone. 

" In the specimen last presented, many of the interstices 
were filled with tartar, which was removed before the 
drawing was made, to show the natural state of the 
teeth themselves. It may be said this is only a single 
specimen ; but such is not the fact. I have examined 
several large milk-farms around New-York, from which 
the city is supplied with milk. In most of these, " still- 
slops" are used as food for cows; each cow consumes 
about thirty gallons daily, and wherever these slops are 
used, the teeth of these animals are more or less affected. 

" Those kept near a distillery, and where the food is fur- 
nished to them hot, exhibit more marks of decay than 
those kept at a greater distance, w 7 here .the still-slops are 
cooler before the animal is fed upon them.*" 

The foregoing statements, with one exception, have 
been fully confirmed by the observations of the writer. He 
has not been able to discover, with Mr. Burdell, that the 
teeth of cattle fed with slop hot and direct from the distil- 
lery, are more affected with caries than those which are 
kept at a greater distance, provided slop constituted their 
chief or only food. At the distilleries they usually receive 
the slop at an equal temperature, having been somewhat 
cooled in its passage through the gutters to the pens ; 
while to those at a distance, the slop being conveyed in 
hogsheads from which the air is excluded, the heat is 
longer retained; and being fed in that condition to the 
cattle, and likewise when perfectly cold, the teeth are ex- 
posed to greater variations of temperature in the latter than 
in the former case. Now so far as temperature is con- 

* Burdell on Diseases of the Teeth, p. 65. 



152 OTHER ANIMALS DISEASED. 

cerned, as has been ascertained by microscopic observa- 
tions, it is the sudden transition from hot to cold, and vice 
versa, which produces the greatest injury to the teeth ; for 
the enamel, by the unequal expansion and contraction, is 
fractured, and the consequent exposure of the bony sub- 
stance of the teeth to the action of acrid fluids, subjects 
them to rapid decay. 

Slop, as before remarked, is preferred hot, because in 
that state it is said to excite a greater flow of milk. But 
from all that has been ascertained by careful and protract- 
ed observation, and from the experience of those engaged 
in the business, it appears that this kind of food, in what- 
ever condition received, destroys the teeth ; and according 
to the admitted principles before stated, the aliment which 
uniformly produces such effects upon these organs, must 
also affect the general health of the animals that feed 
upon it. 

But the unhealthiness of distillery-slop is not peculiar 
to cattle. Horses and swine are likewise affected by it. 
A few pails' full given to ahorse, or even the moistening of 
his feed with it, has been known seriously to injure the 
teeth, and, through ignorance of the consequences, some 
valuable animals have been ruined by it. 

Where this refuse cannot be used to better advantage, 
as is the case in some of our cities and country places, 
swine are extensively fed with it. The method of penning 
swine for this purpose, in the city of Philadelphia, is suffi- 
ciently singular to deserve notice. A brick building, four 
stories high, is fitted up for this purpose, and filled with 
swine from the cellar upwards. The whole is divided into 
apartments ten feet square, and six feet high. Each apart- 
ment contains from ten to fifteen swine. And it is said, 
that two brick buildings are now erecting for the accom- 



SWINE AFFECTED. 



153 



modation of about two thousand more. Swine at these 
establishments are kept on slop for seventy-five cents per 
month. The arrangements, so far as cleanliness and ven- 
tillation are concerned, appear to be extremely defective. 
The darkness, steam, and odor, are intolerable. It is stated 
that a large number of the swine die within the first two 
months after admission, and that only swine of first rate 
constitution can stand the treatment.* 

Additional testimony to the injurious effects of this food 
on the health of swine, has been incidentally furnished by 
an association in Tennessee, whose inquiries were address- 
ed to practical distillers, in order to obtain from them 
opinions and calculations on the comparative lucrativeness 
of feeding stock with grain, or converting it into whisky. 
The report on the subject says : " We have succeeded in 
obtaining the testimony of a number whose veracity cannot 
be doubted, and whose experience and management must 
have weight with an enlightened public." One distiller 
says : " At the beginning I had forty head of hogs ; but 
during the spring and autumn, about ten of them died from 
fits, brought on by the poison of the copper mixed with 
the slop." 

Another distiller says : " With regard to the opinion that 
a grain distillery is a good place to raise swine, I can only 
say that I have never been able to raise them without a 
considerable quantity of corn. Swine taken to a distillery 
in the fall or winter poor, will remain so until the spring 
of the year, unless you feed with corn as well as slop. 
Soon as the weather becomes warm, young hogs will take 
a cough and die, and if there be any cure for it, corn is the 
medicine. Old hogs, if they have the slop after the grass 

• Vide Temperance Journal, Vol. I. p. 9. 



154 SWINE AFFECTED. 

rises in the spring, and have the privilege of both, will 
grow and fatten fast, although, without great care, many 
will die during the spring and summer with fits, occasion- 
ed by the slop cankering in the still, and with all care you 
will lose some, for fat swine will sometimes die."* A pri- 
vate correspondent who has had much experience in this 
business remarks, " that slop is certain death to young pigs 
when fed to the mother." But it is not necessary to mul- 
tiply extracts of this kind. 

From the information obtained on this subject, it is evi- 
dent, that the fattening of swine on this kind of food, on ac- 
count of the mortality thereby produced among the porkers, 
is now extensively regarded as an undesirable, because it is 
an unprofitable business. "Whether this mortality is occasion- 
ed by the acid and acrid properties of the slop, or as some 
suppose by the copper, and by the poison of the alcohol be- 
ing mixed with it, it is not important to determine. The fact 
that many die, is indisputable ; and the loss from this cause, 
as estimated by numerous other practical men who have 
been consulted, is stated to be twenty-five per cent. The 
livers of some become enlarged, and diseased, and fill- 
ed with tubercles like the livers of drunkards ; some die 
with fits outright ; but the greater number, especially 
of young swine, as the weather becomes warm, take a 
cough and die. And better far that they all die, than that 
such pork be eaten. Swine, under the most favorable 
management, are particularly subject to scrofulous diseases; 
and it cannot be that diseased pork, or the flesh of ani- 
mals partaking of the bad properties of such food is 
wholesome. But on these analogous effects we will not 
enlarge. 

* Vide Temperance Journal, p. 101. 



MORTALITY AMONG COWS. 155 

The main fact insisted upon, viz., that cattle fed upon 
still slop diet become diseased, is undeniable. The most 
healthy animals, put upon this unhealthy aliment, soon in- 
dicate an accumulation of diseases ; and their very appear- 
ance, compared with the sleek and healthy condition of 
those kept on natural food, is prima facie evidence of the 
fact. In a little time they become so thoroughly distem- 
pered as to be of no use ; and the dairyman, in order to pre- 
vent the loss of their dying upon his hands, is obliged to 
change his stock, at least every nine months, by sending 
his diseased and worn-out cattle to the butchers. Yet 
w T ith this frequent change of stock, and the exercise of 
every possible precaution, during the few months the cattle 
are kept on this food, the loss by disease is very consider- 
able. In the absence of every other manifested cause, ex- 
cept the diet and management, one dairyman lost eleven 
out of twenty cows in the space of five months ; another, 
lost thirteen out of seventeen in seven months. This was 
an unusual fatality ; but numerous other reports have 
been made to the writer, which were nearly as great. Be- 
ing determined to obtain as accurate statistics as possible, 
a committee of dairymen, now engaged in the milk busi- 
ness, was induced to enter upon a thorough investigation 
of the subject, and it subsequently reported, that out of 
eighteen hundred and forty-one cows which were fed on 
slop, in the vicinity of Brooklyn, two hundred and thirty 
in the course of a few months had died of disease ; and 
from the difficulties thrown in the way of full information 
by the proprietors of the dairies, there is reason to believe 
that the actual mortality was far greater than reported. 
This, it will be seen, is equivalent to thirteen per cent. ; 
and by collating the various estimates and reports of those 
in the business, the loss from this cause may be set down 



156 DISEASED MEAT. 

at from twelve to twenty per cent. The cows being bloat- 
ed with slush, though apparently in good condition, will 
die as suddenly as unexpectedly. After yielding the usual 
quantity of milk, they have been known to die the same 
day. How extremely disgusting the idea of partaking of 
the milk, not merely of a distempered animal, but of one 
that is already dead of disease ! Yet such are the legiti- 
mate fruits of this iniquitous and unnatural system. 

But it is unnecessary to enlarge on statements of this 
kind, as, from what has been stated, every reflecting mind 
will perceive that the whole subject has various important 
bearings on the health and morals of the people. Disease 
ed meat, when eaten, every one knows, produces malig- 
nant fevers. But against impositions of this kind, the law 
benevolently protects the community, by appointing in- 
spectors with authority to throw into the rivers such flesh, 
and all that appears in the least degree unsound, and justly 
subjects those selling it clandestinely to fine and imprison- 
ment. Yet here is a cause incomparably more prolific of dis- 
ease than any against which the law provides, that entirely 
escapes its cognizance. There cannot, however, be a ra- 
tional doubt but that the juices or secretions of diseased ani- 
mals, which is the milk, especially when produced from 
unwholesome aliment, are as unfit for food, as is their flesh. 
Any other conclusion would be as contrary to the known 
laws of life and health, as to the common sense of man- 
kind. 

The subject is, indeed, one on which every man is com- 
petent to decide. No better reason can be given that we 
should eat diseased meat for the benefit of the unprincipled 
butcher, than that we use diseased milk to satisfy the rapacity 
of the dairyman or distiller. In the former case we are 
protected to some extent by legal statute, and we should 



DISEASED MEAT. 157 

endeavor to effect such a modification of the laws as will 
entirely remove the grievance. In the latter case we 
are called upon to protect ourselves. The remedy is in our 
own hands. Upon our vigilance and fidelity to our own 
interests, depend the correction of this intolerable evil. 



14 



CHAPTER XIX. 

DISEASES CONSEQUENT UPON THIS UNNATURAL SYSTEM. 

Dry-murrain. — Bloody-murrain. — Consumption. — Effects of it on the 
milk. — Wolf-in-the-tail. — Diarrhoea, Pleurisy, etc. 

The occasion of the death of slop-fed animals, and like- 
wise the prevention and cure of the entire evil, are so mani- 
fest, that no valuable end can be gained by dwelling upon 
the maladies that are thereby induced, unless it be to arouse 
the indignation of every humane heart against the system 
which subjects these useful and unoffending creatures to 
this barbarous treatment. Any thing, therefore, like a full 
enumeration, or a nosological classification of diseases, will 
not here be attempted. It will be sufficient for our purpose 
to name a few maladies with a diagnosis of the cases, 
which may serve both as a proof and as an illustration of 
the iniquity and inhumanity of the whole system. 

Dry-murrain, is one of the distempers with which slop- 
fed cattle are sometimes seized. In this case, the animals 
suddenly show symptoms of disease. The milk disappears, 
the muzzle becomes dry, the tongue furred and parched, 
and the flanks heave with evident signs of distress. The 
progress of the malady is extremely rapid. In the morn- 
ing, the animal is apparently well ; at night it may be 
dead, and usually falls, it is said, stiff over backwards 
as if knocked upon the head. 

Bloody-murrain, is of more frequent occurrence. It is 
probably a species of the plague, with which a righteous 



MALADIES OF CATTLE. 159 

God destroyed the cattle of Egypt because of Pharaoh's 
obstinacy. " If thou refuse to let them go, behold, the hand 
of the Lord is upon thy cattle : there shall be a very 
grievous murrain. To-morrow the Lord shall do this thing 
in the land. And the Lord did that thing on the morrow, and 
all the cattle of Egypt died."* When slop-fed cattle are taken 
with this distemper, it appears scarcely less malignant or 
fatal than that mentioned in the sacred record. It is pro- 
bably endemical, and evidently differs, in some respects, from 
the malignant epidemic murrain which occasionally, through 
successive ages, has swept away nearly all the horned 
cattle in many countries,! although its general characte- 

* Exod. 9 : 2, &c. 

t Virgil, who flourished about fifty years before the Christian era, 
so graphically describes the ravages of this pestilence among the Ro- 
man herds, that a brief extract therefrom, though it divert the at- 
tention of the reader from the main subject, will not require an 
apology. 

Hinc lastis vituli vulgo moriuntur in herbis, 
Et dulces animas plena ad prsesepia reddunt. 
Hinc canibus blandis rabies venit, et quatit aggros 
Tussis anhela sues, ac faucibus angit obesis. 
Labitur infelix studiorum, atque immemor herbae 
Victor equus, fontesque avertiter, etpede terrain 
Crebroferit: demissse aures ; incertus ibidem 
Sudor, et ille quidem morituris frigidus: aret 
Pellis, et ad tactum tractanti dura resistit. 
Hsec ante exitium primis dant signa diebus. 
Sin in processu ccepit crudescere morbus, 
Turn vero ardentesoculi, atque attractus ab alto 
Spiritus interdum gemitu gravis : imaque longo 
Ilia singultu tendunt: it naribus ater 
Sanguis, et obsessas fauces premit aspera lingua. 
Ecce autem duro fumans sub vomere taurus 
Concidet, etmixtum spumis vomit ore cruorem, 
Extremosque ciet gemitus. 

Gcorg- lib. III. ver. 494, &c. 



160 MALADIES OF CATTLE. 

ristics, as they have been observed by the writer and des- 
cribed to him, essentially agree with the following symp- 
toms. 

The cough is frequent, painful, and convulsive. The 
mouth is hot ; the root of the horn is cold ; and there is 
extreme tenderness observed along the spine. As the dis- 
ease progresses, bloody matter runs from the mouth and 
nostrils, and likewise mingles with the fasces ; the stench 
is intolerable ; suddenly the patient sinks and dies. 

However individual cases may vary from the foregoing 
symptoms, such is the virulence of the disease, it is not un- 
derstood that cows once attacked with it ever recover. We 
before adverted to the pestilential murrain of former times 
among cattle; and it appears to have extended from them 
to the human species. 



The thriven calves in meads their food forsake, 

And render their sweet souls before the plenteous rack. 

The fawning dog runs mad ; the wheezing swine 

With cough is chok'd, and labors from the chine ; 

The victor horse, forgetful of his food, 

The palm renounces, and abhors the flood ; 

He paws the ground, and on his hanging ears 

A doubtful sweat in clammy drops appears. 

Parch'd is his hide, and rugged are his hairs: ' 

Such are the symptoms of this young disease ; 

But in time's process, when his pains increase, 

He rolls his mournful eyes ; he deeply groans 

With patient sobbing, and with manly moans. 

He heaves for breath ; which from his lungs supplied 

And fetched from far, distends his lab'ring side. 

To his rough palate his dry tongue succeeds, 

And ropy gore he from his nostril bleeds. 

The steer who to the yoke was bred to bow, 

(Studious of tillage and the crooked plough,) 

Falb down and dies ; and, dying, voids a flood 

Of foaming madness, mix'd with clotted blood. — Dryden. 



MALADIES OF CATTLE. 161 

Ovgrjug f.dv TTQhnov inco^no xal xvvag agyovg 
Avraq intix avroiat jSilog f^entvxsg acpiag 
Bull. — Iliad, lib. I. 

On mules and dogs th' infection first began, 

At last the vengeful arrows fixed in man. — Pope. 

Vast numbers of the cattle belonging to the Greeks, 
and of the Greeks themselves, perished at the siege of Troy 
by this pestilence. In the reign of Romulus, Plutarch says, 
this pest destroyed not only great numbers of cattle, but 
also many of the inhabitants ; and the historian Livy, 
referring to another visitation of the scourge, declares that 
" the consuls had greater difficulty in raising their recruits 
because the plague, which the yearbefore had raged among 
the horned cattle, had broken out among the men."* 

Persons in our own day, are frequently attacked with. 
malignant pustules, from being accidentally inoculated with 
the virus of cattle that have died of bloody-murrain. The 
first manifestation of the disease, is a gangrenous affection 
of the skin, which is followed by constitutional symptoms 
of a character so dangerous, that, if not arrested, death 
speedily ensues. The slightest contact with the body of the 
animal so as to absorb the virus, is sufficient to produce 
this fatal disease. Four cases of this malady came under 
the treatment of Dr. Pennock of Philadelphia in 1836 ; 
the poison being communicated, by skinning cows that had 
died of murrain. To one of the persons it proved fatal ; 
but Moses Hagerty, J. Hagerty, and Adam Hill, milkmen, 
recovered. In the city of New-York, a case recently came 
under our observation, which nearly proved fatal.f 

* Liv. lib. XLI. 

+ For a detailed account of these cases, vide Am. Med. Jour. 
Vol. XIX. p. 14. 

14* 



162 PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 

Though interesting to the general reader, it would be 
irrelevant to our object, to attempt an account of this dis- 
ease as it has prevailed among cattle from the earliest pe- 
riods of authentic history, down to the close of the eigh- 
teenth century. It is indeed unnecessary, as it has already 
been done by an able writer, to whose investigations vete- 
rinary science is not more indebted than is humanity for 
the benevolence of his sentiments. Referring to the viru- 
lence and the extent of this malady, he says : " With occa- 
sional remissions, and often very short ones, this malignant 
epidemic had prevailed, and now had reached the very ex- 
tremity of Europe. The attention of every government 
had been anxiously directed to it. Prompted by benevo- 
lence, or urged by the hope of honor or reward, the most 
eminent physicians of the day had devoted their time and 
medical skill to the elucidation of its nature, cause, and 
mode of treatment ; and all not only without success, but, 
it would almost seem, with an unfortunate result ; for the 
malady continued to spread, although it was not so intract- 
able or murderous."* But in the enlightened nineteenth 
century, through the culpable remissness of the municipal 
and state governments, the ignorance or inattention of the 
people, and the recklessness or cupidity of a few individuals, 
whose interest it is to perpetuate the evil, a system of 
treatment is not only tolerated but encouraged, which in- 
flicts upon these domesticated animals diseases as distressing 
and fatal as those which have invariably been deprecated 
by foreign governments as great national calamities ;f 

* Youatt on Cattle, p. 393. 

t The appearance of murrain among cattle in Great Britain in 
1745, became a matter of legislative inquiry and enactment; and by 
order of council, boards of health were established in various parts 
of the kingdom. The deep concern felt by the government in the 



PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE. 163 

and which, as will be seen, through the voluntary agency 
of inconsiderate men, is made to extend its direful conse- 
quences to the health and lives of human beings. 



subject, is exhibited by the tenor of the royal documents, from one 
of which, as matter of interest and curiosity, we subjoin an ex- 
tract. 

First Commission, March \2lh, 1715. 

His majesty being desirous of doing all in his power to put a stop 
to the spreading of the said distemper, has thought fit, by and with 
the advice of his privy council, etc.. to make the rules and regula- 
tions following, etc. : 

First. That all cow-keepers, farmers, and owners of any of the 
said several sorts of cattle, in any place where the said distemper 
has appeared, or shall hereafter appear, do, as soon as any of the 
said cattle shall appear to have any signs or marks of the said dis- 
temper, immediately remove such cattle to some distant place from 
the rest, and cause the same to be shot, or otherwise killed, with as 
little effusion of blood as may be, and the bodies to be immediately 
buried, with the skin and horns on, at least four feet in depth above 
the body of the beast so buried, having first cut and slashed the hides 
thereof from head to tail, and quite round the body, so as to render 
them of no use. 

Secondly. That they do cause all the hay which such infected 
cattle have breathed upon, and all the hay, straw, or litter, that they 
have touched or been near, to be forthwith removed and burned ; and 
that no person who shall attend any infected cattle, shall go near the 
sound ones in the same clothes. 

Thirdly. That they do cause the houses or buildings where such 
infected cattle have stood, to be cleared from all dung and filth, and 
wet gunpowder, pitch, tar, or brimstone, to be burnt or fired in seve- 
ral parts of such buildings, at the same time keeping in the smoke as 
much as possible ; and that the same be afterwards washed with 
vinegar and warm water ; and that no sound cattle be put therein for 
at least two months. 

Fourthly. That no person whatever do buy, sell, or expose for 
sale, the milk or any part of the flesh or entrails of any such infected 
cattle; or feed, or cause to be fed, any hog, calf, lamb, or any other 
animal, therewith ; or drive, or cause to be drove, any such infected 
cattle to any market or fair, either in or out of the country where the 



164 CONSUMPTION. 

Consumption , as might be expected, when there are so 
many causes operating to impair the vigor of the constitu- 
tion, and bring on this fatal malady, is one of the most 
frequent with which slop-fed cattle are attacked. To say 
nothing of the effects of improper diet, it would be strange, 
indeed, if cattle removed from the pure native air to which 
their constitutions have become adapted, and pent up in 
hot and filthy stables, should not suffer from diseases of 
the respiratory organs. "There is one striking fact, 
showing the injurious effect of heated and empoisoned air 
on the pulmonary system. There are some cow-houses in 
which the iieat is intense, and the inmates are often in a 
state of profuse perspiration. The doors and windows 
must sometimes be opened, and then the wind blows in 
cold enough upon those that are close to them, and, one 
would naturally think, could not fail of being injurious. No 
such thing. These are the animals who escape; but the oth- 
ers at the farther end, on whom no wind blows, and where 
no perspiration is checked, are the first to have hoove, 
inflammation, and consumption." This fact speaks vol- 
umes in regard to the importance of pure air, and the 
right management of cattle. 

A cough of peculiar character, is the earliest symptom 
of this disease. The lungs soon become tuberculated, and 
these tubercles or ulcers, suppurating and running into 
each other, form abscesses which destroy so much of the 
lungs, that there is not enough left to support life, and the 

said cattle now are, or to or from any place whatsoever, out of their 
own respective grounds, while they are so distempered. 

For the encouragement of the owners of cattle to comply with the 
above decree, they were entitled to receive from the commissioners 
of the treasury " one moiety, or half the value of such cattle" as 
were destroyed. — Youatt, p. 3L>0. 



WOLF-IN-THE-TAIL. 165 

animal languishes away and dies. The progress of the dis- 
ease is marked by the loss of appetite and diminished 
strength ; often there are purulent, and sometimes bloody 
and fetid discharges from the mouth and nostrils ; the cough 
becomes more frequent and urgent, but painful, altered, and 
sometimes spasmodic; a violent and unmanageable diarrhoea 
sets in, and the animal sinks and expires. The fatal ter- 
mination is of course accelerated, or otherwise, in the de- 
gree that vitality is exhausted by the violence of the inflam- 
matory action. 

The effects of consumption on the milk of the cow un- 
der ordinary circumstances, is thus described by the writer 
before quoted. "The milk gradually diminishes, and had it 
been examined before its diminution in quantity, an evi- 
dent deterioration in quality would have been observed ; it 
has acquired an unpleasant flavor, it quickly becomes sour, 
it spoils, or gives a peculiar taste to that with which it is 
mixed. The butter that is made from it is ill-flavored, and 
the cheese will not acquire a proper consistence. Some 
have said that the milk is of a blue color, and that it has 
more serum in its composition, than ordinary and healthy 
milk." With a knowledge of these facts, which are abun- 
dantly verified by ordinary observation, common delicacy, 
and all our irrepressible feelings of aversion to diseased 
milk, would cry out against its use for human food ; yet it 
is certain that such milk is daily used by the great majority 
of our citizens. 

Wolf-in-the-tail, as it is usually denominated among 
dairymen, is another frequent and fatal disease among 
these cattle. It is so called, from the ridiculous notion 
that the disease originates in the tail. The cattle being 
continually under the stimulating and forcing nature of 
their food, without exercise or pure air to abate in any de- 



166 DIARRHCEA AND PLEURISY. 

gree its injurious effects, are extremely subject to sudden 
determinations of the blood to the head which results in 
apoplexy. The first premonitory symptom usually no- 
ticed, is the coldness of the tail, from which when cut there 
is no effusion of blood. If, however, the animal had been 
closely observed, the eyes would have appeared blood-shot 
and protruded, the breathing laborious, with numerous other 
indications of general indisposition. The animal appears 
suddenly struck, and expires, sometimes in a few minutes, 
but more frequently after an agonized struggle of several 
hours. On examining the carcase of such animals after death 
the coats of the stomach are found excoriated, the in- 
testines decayed, and the wind-pipe and brain filled with 
extravasated blood. 

Diarrhcea and pleurisy are also very common and very 
fatal among these injured creatures, likewise diseases of 
the liver, spleen and pancreas. But it would be foreign to 
our design, useless in itself, and uninteresting to the reader 
to give an enumeration, much less a description of the mul- 
tifarious distempers which' this vile system of treatment in- 
duces. If enough has been said to exhibit another feature 
in this wretched business, which in all its aspects is most 
revolting, the object here proposed is gained. The results 
described are as certain, as the connection of cause and ef- 
fect. Exemption from disease is impossible when every 
law of health is grossly violated, as is the case in the 
management of these cattle. And yet — we reiterate the 
fact that it may be ever in mind — the milk of these diseased 
creatures, whose existence is but a lingering death, con- 
stitutes the staple diet for infants and children, and is re- 
garded of indispensable use in every family. The whole 
system, so far as surveyed, will be seen to be characterized 
by ignorance and brutality. It was, probably, at first re- 



DIARRHfEA AND PLEURISY. 167 

sorted to rather as a matter of convenience or of experi- 
ment, than from an actual want of humane feeling ; but it 
is now a mercenary expedient, unnecessarily yet determin- 
ately pursued as an object of deliberative choice from mo- 
tives of interest, alike regardless of its inhumanity to brutes, 
and of the incalculable evils which it inflicts upon human 
beings. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE POISONOUS EFFECTS OF DISEASE ON THE MILK OF COWS. 

Chaptal's opinion. — Facts illustrating the poisonous effects of milk. — 
Milk sickness. — Dr. Graff's testimony. — Christison's ditto. — Fa- 
miliar facts on the subject. — A letter from a physician. — Also 
from a correspondent. 

The argument is cumulative. We have shown that 
the natural conditions of amimal life, as it respects air, ex- 
ercise, and food, are grossly violated by the slop-milk sys- 
tem, and that deranged health, and loathsome and fatal 
diseases are the necessary consequences. We now pro- 
pose to show, that when the animals are diseased, their 
secretions must also be diseased, and are therefore unfit for 
human sustenance. 

Chaptal says, " milk preserves the character and quali- 
ty of the aliments ; and for this reason we are induced to 
place it at the head of the humors of the body." But this 
is not all. Milk also partakes of the morbid condition of 
the animal which produces it, so as to transmit to those 
who feed upon it, dangerous and fatal diseases. 

That milk is affected by the food both in our own 
species and that of brute animals, is so generally admitted 
as to need little in the way of proof. But that the milk of 
diseased animals is capable of communicating disease to 
man, is a proposition which has never been agitated 
amongst us as one that nearly concerned the people. How 
it should be overlooked in this community may well excite 
astonishment, when thousands are daily eating boththemilk 



MILK SICKNESS. 169 

and flesh of diseased animals, and experiencing in them- 
selves and 1 families the appalling effects, without, of course, 
indulging a suspicion of the real cause of their sufferings. 
In defence of the position we will state a few facts, as these 
will more forcibly illustrate the principle on which we in- 
sist, than any pathological argument our limits will admit. 
A case in point, occurred not long since in Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire. Several persons were taken violently 
ill, with vomiting and purging, attended by cramps and 
spasms. After a careful examination of the cause, the 
physicians were irresistibly led to the conclusion that the 
sickness was occasioned by the milk of a cow that had fed 
on some poisonous vegetable. All who used any of the 
milk sickened, and some being given to a dog, he was af- 
fected in like manner. 

The milk sickness, or trembles, as it is sometimes de- 
nominated, that has extensively prevailed among cattle in 
several of the southwestern states, would of itself furnish 
a volume of illustrations. We subjoin a few extracts 
from the communications which have appeared on the sub- 
ject. Says a correspondent of an Indiana paper : "At Lo- 
gansport, on the banks of the Wabash, I was cautioned 
against using either milk, butter, or beef, on my way to 
Vincennes. As a reason for the caution, I was informed 
that the milk sickness was common in this state. I had 
heard of it before, but knew little of it. I was informed 
that many deaths occurred annually from this dreadful 
malady. There is a difference of opinion as to the cause 
that produces it ; but the general conclusion is that it is 
occasioned by the yellow oxyd or arsenic in the low 
ground or woodland, and particularly near the Wabash 
river, and that some w r eed (yet unknown) imbibes the 
poison, and when eaten by the cattle causes them to quiver, 

15 



170 MILK SICKNESS. 

and stagger, and die, within a few hours. If cows 
eat it, the milk is poisoned, or butter that is made from the 
milk ; and it is also as sure death to those who use the 
milk or butter, as it is to the animal that eats the weed. 
Great care is taken to bury such cattle as die with it ; for 
if dogs, &c, eat their flesh, they share the same fate, and 
it operates as violently upon them, as upon the creature 
that was first affected with it." Dr. McCall of Tennessee 
says, " if the calf suck this milk it trembles and dies. 
Horses as well as cattle die by the poison, and dogs, cats, 
buzzards, turkies, chickens, and crows, die by eating the 
flesh of animals that have perished under this disease." 
He also relates many cases of sickness in the human sub- 
ject, which proved fatal under his own treatment.* Dr. 
Graff, of Edgar county, Illinois, on this subject says : ," The 
cattle may be affected to such a degree as that their flesh 
and milk will produce the disease in man, and yet they 
themselves manifest no unhealthy symptoms whatever." 
Again he remarks : " Hundreds of persons throughout the 
west and southwest are annually perishing from its attacks. 
Butter and cheese, manufactured from the milk drawn from 
infected cows, are supposed to be the most concentrated 
forms of this poison. They possess no distinguishing ap- 
pearance, odor, or taste, from the healthy article. A very 
minute quantity of either will suffice to develope the dis- 
ease in man. The cream, ordinarily sufficient to be added 
to the coffee drank at a single meal, is said to have induced 
an attack. The butter or cheese eaten at one repast, has 
frequently been known to prove effective. The property 
is not contained in any of the elements of the milk exclu- 
sively, but distributed throughout the whole of them, being 
possessed by the buttermilk as well as the whey." 
* Medical Recorder, Vol. VI. p. 257. 



POISONOUS MILK. 171 

Dr. Graff also records the testimony of Dr. John W. 
Davis of Indiana, who says : " My own experience enables 
me to state, that I have seen a peculiar affection, which I 
feel assured could have been no other than the milk sick- 
ness, in a city remote from its local causes, attacking 
every individual who partook of a certain cheese which had 
been purchased from a wagon arriving from an infected 
district." The instance just cited, occurred in Chillicothe, 
Ohio, " in which place," says Dr. Graff, " I met with a 
medical friend who had charge of a number of the cases. 
He expressed to me his belief that the disease w T as milk 
sickness, from what he had learned in relation to it, in ad- 
dition to the fact that it was exclusively confined to a single 
house, sparing those inmates who did not eat of the cheese 
in question." We are also informed by this writer that 
" a murderous practice is now carried on in certain dis- 
tricts, in which the inhabitants will not themselves consume 
the butter and cheese manufactured ; but, with little soli- 
citude for the lives or health of others, they send it in large 
quantities to be sold in the cities of the west, particularly 
Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis, Missouri. Of the truth of 
this I am well apprised by actual observation ; and I am 
certain it has often caused death in those cities, when the 
medical attendants viewed it as some anomalous form of 
disease, not suspecting the means by which the poison had 
been conveyed among them."* How like this is the prac- 
tice of numerous venders in New-York, who will not risk 
in their own families the use of drugged, diluted, and dis- 
eased milk, but, utterly reckless of human health and life, 
furnish it for the consumption of others ! 

If other facts are necessary to sustain our position, they 

♦ Am. Journ. Med. Science, April, 1841. 



172 chkistison's testimony. 

abound in medical writings. Christison, in his work on 
poisons, states that " it has several times been remarked on 
the continent, that the milk of the cow may act like a vi- 
olent poison, although no mineral or other deleterious 
impregnation could be detected in it ; and these effects have 
been variously and vaguely ascribed to the animal having 
been diseased, or to its having fed on acrid vegetables, which 
pass into the milk. At Aurillae, a village in France, fif- 
teen or sixteen customers of a particular dealer in goat's 
milk, were at one and the same time attacked with all the 
symptoms of a violent cholera ; and about twenty-four 
hours afterwards, the goat too was taken ill of the same 
affection, and died in three days. Another instance lately 
occurred in Westphalia. Six people of a family, after par- 
taking of goat's butter-milk, were simultaneously attacked 
with violent vomiting, and tension of the epigastrium, and 
several of them suffered so severely as even to have been 
thought by their physician to be in danger." He also 
quotes a French writer, who states that the shepherds in 
the neighborhood of Embrin, in France, were obliged to 
abandon certain fields, because the milk of their cows was 
rendered useless by the abundance of a certain plant among 
the herbage. 

It has before been remarked that the bad quality of milk 
will sometimes operate deleteriously on those that partake 
of it, whilst the animal itself appears unaffected. This is 
the case in the human species, but in a far greater degree 
among the lower animals. The fact is well attested that 
calves have been poisoned by receiving the milk of a cow, 
whilst the effects on the cow were too slight to be observed. 
— But it is unnecessary to spread out additional proofs and 
testimonies in support of a position which, if not self-evident, 
is demonstrated by facts and results that are otherwise 



a physician's testimony. 173 

wholly inexplicable on sound pathological principles. 
Every physician and every man of common sense will 
concur in the opinion that the milk of diseased animals 
cannot be used for food, without risk to health and life ; 
and every humane mind will agree in the verdict, that those 
persons who continue to furnish it to be so used, with a 
knowledge of its morbific qualities and effects, should suffer 
a punishment proportioned to the enormity of their offence. 
We here subjoin a very summary view of the subject, by 
a gentleman whose opportunities for observation have been 
rather limited and incidental ; but being an eminent phy- 
sician in New England, his opinions are entitled to respect. 
" Dear Sir, — I am glad to observe that your citizens are 
waking up to some of the influences which are in ope- 
ration to enfeeble or destroy human health. Among those, 
the milk that is extensively distributed through the city, 
from the dairies supported by the distilling establishments, is 
by no means inconsiderable. 

" I live in the country, but occasionally go to the city ; 
and while there, I make a practice of securing, if possible, 
my accustomed glass of milk morning and evening, instead 
of coffee and tea, which for some years I have laid aside 
altogether. Three years ago last winter, I took lodgings 
at a respectable house near Broadway, and bespoke, as 
usual, my glass of milk. I observed that the taste of this 
milk was unnatural, unsavory, and I had no relish for it ; 
in fact, it soon became loathsome, and at the end of one 
week I found myself greatly enfeebled, with loss of appetite, 
a feverish heat of the hands, and a slightly furred tongue, 
with other indications of disorder. The milk, I was inform- 
ed, came from a dairy supplied with swill from a distillery. 
I left the boarding-house, and took lodgings at the Clinton 
Hotel, where I found a well-flavored glass of milk morning 

15* 



174 INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONY. 

and evening, and in three days I was well. Mr. H., the 
landlord, assured me that he was supplied with milk from 
Harlaem, by a farmer who fed his cows on wholesome food. 

"Let the parent who feeds his children with milk from 
the dairies at Brooklyn, visit those places, and look for 
once into the buildings where the cows are crowded 
together with scarcely space enough between them to allow 
a milkman to pass; let him take two long breaths of that 
filthy atmosphere, from which the poor animals are not 
permitted to stir for weeks and months ; let him smell of 
the heart-sickening rum-broth upon which these abused 
creatures are compelled almost exclusively to feed — each 
drinking from fifteen to thirty gallons a day ; let him ex- 
amine the stumps of the teeth corroded down to the gums 
by the acrid fluids generated from the unwholesome food j 
let him learn that some of these animals, becoming in a 
single season unfit for the dairy, are fattened partly upon 
the same poisonous composition, and killed and carried into 
market to be eaten by himself and family ; and then let 
him say whether he will patronize such nefarious establish- 
ments. 

" Nothing can be more certain, than that the quality of 
the milk is greatly influenced by the state of the health of 
the animal producing it ; and where such immense quanti- 
ties of a mischievous material as fifteen or thirty gallons are 
made to pass through the organs of a single animal in 
twenty-four hours, it is impossible that the functions of the 
organs should be performed in a perfect manner. The 
milk thus produced might almost as well be taken directly 
from the distillery, without the ceremony of straining it 
through the blood-vessels of a sickly cow." 

Mr. James Seawell authorizes the publication of the fol- 
lowing statement, dated New-York, August 4th, 1841. 



INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONY. 175 

" Sir, — As others may be benefitted by a knowledge of 
my experience in the use of distillery milk, I am induced 
to send you a brief account of it, with the permission to 
make such use of the statement as you judge best. 

" It is usual for my family to visit the country in the 
months of July and August, and during that time our domes- 
tic arrangements in the city are broken up. But the pres- 
ent season, as business engagements would not permit me 
to leave the city, my plans were a little different. I ac- 
companied my family to the country, and returned, and the 
same evening having eaten my customary supper of bread 
and milk, of which my nephew and servant (the only per- 
sons besides myself in the family) partook, in the course of 
the night we all were suddenly seized with diarrhoea, 
of so violent a nature that we did not recover under 
two or three days. During that time we abstained from 
milk food, not however because we suspected that to be 
the origin of the disease, for no apprehension of the kind 
was indulged until about a week afterwards, when, after a 
meal of milk, my nephew and myself were again simulta- 
neously taken with the same disease ; accompanied with 
every symptom and effect of our previous illness. So ex- 
traordinary an occurrence led me to investigate, if possible, 
the cause. I soon learned that the servant who had not 
eaten of the milk escaped, which first excited the suspi- 
cion that bad milk might have occasioned the attacks. 
But as I iiad taken the precaution to be supplied with a 
pure article, and had long been accustomed to its use with- 
out injurious effects, this cause appeared to be insufficient. 
On inquiry, however, I learned to my surprise, that my old 
dairyman on the temporary absence of my family had dis- 
continued his supply of milk, and that the milk which we 
had eaten was the pernicious slush of the distillery. 



176 EFFECTS OF POISONOUS MILK. 

" I cannot, sir, doubt that this poisonous milk was the 
sole cause of the disease, and if its use had been freely per- 
sisted in, its effects would have been fatal. Others may not 
have observed the same consequences from the same kind of 
milk, because used sparingly, perhaps only for tea and 
coffee ; and by such a use at my own table, or by feeding 
it to an infant, its diseased properties might not for a long 
time, or probably never, have been discovered. But no 
man can disprove the experience of another. I am fully 
convinced of the effects in my own case, and there is this 
additional evidence : — having obtained milk which I know 
to be pure, I have ever since, as was my custom long be- 
fore, made it a daily article of food, with only beneficial ef- 
fects." 



. CHAPTER XXI. 

FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS AND EXPERIMENTS. 

Preliminary statements. — Continued prevalence of the evil. — Report 
addressed to the Medical Society of Paris. — Impure milk acid. — 
Test of acidit3 r . — Result of experiments. — Conditions essential to 
good milk. — How acidity may be corrected. — Case in M. D'Ar- 
cet's family. — A caution. — Importance of this testimony. — All 
slop milk acid. — Beer grains. — Milk in our cities worse than iu 
Paris. 

As we now design to present some other views of the 
subject, a few preliminary remarks may be in place. 

The investigations and experiments made in this coun- 
try, led, it is believed, to the discovery and public disclosure 
of the fact, that milk produced from the dregs of distilla- 
tion, was innutritious, impure, and unhealthy. The an- 
nouncement of this opinion, for a time, produced a deep 
sensation. Many among the most intelligent of the peo- 
ple, having by careful inquiry satisfied themselves that the 
statements were well founded, at once banished the im- 
pure milk from their tables, and no consideration could 
now induce them to resume its use. But the reform of 
long established evils, especially when it is the real or 
supposed interest of many persons to perpetuate them by 
deluding the people, is oftentimes slow and difficult. 
However important may be a discovery, there are those 
who are contented to be no wiser than were their fathers, 
and who are so averse to change that, except the subject 



178 FOREIGN INVESTIGATIONS. 

be pressed upon their attention with a pertinacity from 
which they cannot escape, they are reluctant to believe 
and avail themselves of the proffered advantages. But it is 
proper to state that the great mass of the community are 
yet unacquainted with the subject. And as reform was 
not likely to progress faster than light was diffused, it is 
not surprising that it has not been more rapid and exten- 
sive, or that its influence should be greatest amongst 
that class who have had access to the publications in 
which the subject has been presented. 

But whilst the evil still exists, to a lamentable extent 
in this country, it is an interesting fact, that the investiga- 
tions and disclosures in relation to it, appear not to have 
been wholly lost upon the philanthropists and philosophers 
in Europe. The grievance, it is true, is not there always 
manifested in the same form as in this country, for grain 
distilleries in the southern parts of Europe are compara- 
tively rare. But it still exists, and from the reports ad- 
dressed to the Medical Society of Paris, it appears that 
Messrs. Petit and M. D'Arcet, distinguished chemists of 
that city, and also the very celebrated Gay-Lussac, have 
made extensive journies for the purpose of experiments 
and information on the subject; and having submitted 
different specimens of milk to analysis from observing 
their different effects upon children, fully confirm what 
was before demonstrated in this city, to wit : that pure air, 
adequate exercise, and natural food for cows, are absolute- 
ly necessary to the secretion of rich and healthy milk ; and 
to the extent that these conditions are disregarded, the 
milk becomes impure, unhealthy and innutritious. As 
these investigations have an important bearing upon the 
subject, it would be great injustice to the inquiry, wholly 
to omit a notice of them ; we therefore subjoin a summa- 



IMPURE MILK ACID. 179 

ry statement as given by a foreign correspondent of one of 
our public journals. He says: 

" I have recently met with a report addressed to the 
Medical Society of Paris, on the subject of milk, which 
shows the importance of procuring this food of the chil- 
dren from the purest source in a new light ; and proves 
that ' distillery slops' are not the only thing injurious to 
its quality.* Messrs. Petit and D'Arcet, distinguished 
chemists of Paris, were led to examine minutely the qual- 
ity of different specimens of milk, from observing their 
very different effects upon children. Some which they 
examined, and which they found to be speedily thrown 
up by the children in coagulated masses, w r as proved by 
chemical tests to have a predominance of acidity, though 
it was not perceptible to the taste. Other portions, which 
were well digested, were proved to have a predominance 
of alkali, which is considered the natural condition of the 
milk. On inquiry, it was found that the cows from which 
the first milk was obtained, were fed in the stables with 
remnants of vegetables as well as hay, and almost without 
movement ; that the alkaline and healthy milk was from 
cows allowed to range and feed in the pastures. 



* A recent foreign medical work, remarks on this subject : " The 
changes produced in the quality of the milk by diseased conditions of 
the cows, have recently attracted considerable attention in Paris, ow- 
ing to the prevalence of a malady called the cocote, among the cows 
in that capital." — Juum. dc. Plmrm. Vol. XXV. pp. 301, 318. 

The following are the morbid changes which have been recog- 
nized in milk: — want of homogeneonsness, imperfect mobility or 
liquidity, capability of becoming thick or viscid on the addition of 
ammonia, and presenting when examined by the microscope, certain 
globules (agglutinated, tuberculated, or mulberry-like mucus or pus 
globules) not found in healthy milk. — Pereira's Mat. Med. Pan II. p. 
1407. Lond. 1810. 



180 IMPURE MILK ACID. 

" These observations led them to examine the varying 
qualities of milk on a more extensive scale, as to the sim- 
ple fact of the predominance of acid or alkali ; and for this 
purpose they availed themselves of a test which may be 
procured without difficulty from the chemists. It is paper 
dipped into a solution of litimus. If it be of good quality, 
the blue color will be changed to red by a fluid which is 
acid. A tincture of blue cabbage will detect acidity also, 
if it is sufficiently fresh, in the same way. 

" During a voyage through Flanders, M. D'Arcet, in 
company with the celebrated chemist, Gay-Lussac, visited 
some of the best dairies, in which the cows are fed upon the 
meadows, and found the milk, without exception, to contain 
a predominance of alkali. They examined the milk of 
cows fed in the stall on turnips, the leaves of vegetables, 
etc., which were allowed to pass two hours a day in the 
pastures, and found it uniformly acid. 

" The same experiments were repeated in the grazing 
regions in the north of France, and uniformly with the 
same results. 

" It would then seem to be fully ascertained, that pure 
and perfect milk can only be given by cows that pass 
the greater part of the day in the pastures during the mild 
season ; and that it cannot be furnished by cows which are 
fed upon the parings and tops of vegetables, or of other 
food than the grasses, and are deprived of exercise — to say 
nothing of the pernicious effects of the distillery slop or 
the sour and putrid remnants of the kitchen. And yet this 
milk must be the staff of life in childhood — the staff of 
which its bones and sinews are formed ; and its quality 
will do much in determining the vigor or feebleness of the 
next generation in your city. It is too true that the im- 
pure and often infected air, and the limited exercise of chil- 



ACIDITY CORRECTED. 181 

dren in a city, added to the intense excitement of its move- 
ment and bustle, while they often render childhood pre- 
cocious, and youth premature, lead to decay equally pre- 
mature in a generation taken together. But, surely, this 
is an additional reason for seeking the purest and best pos- 
sible nourishment, in order to counteract these inevitable 
causes of decline. 

" I am sure, that many a mother will thank me for add- 
ing'that these chemists, on observing variations equally great 
in the digestion of children fed by different nurses, found 
the same difference in the quality of the milk ; and that 
which was thrown up frequently coagulated, was uniformly 
sour when received, not to the taste always, but as tested 
by litimus paper. They observed that the child is not only 
deprived in this manner of suitable food, but he is obliged 
to call for it forty or fifty times a day instead of four or 
five times, and thus fatigues and injures his own stomach 
without being nourished, and wearies and exhausts his 
nurse so as to render the quality of the milk still worse. — 
Such a state of things, they say, ought to be immediately 
remedied, and that it can be done by giving the mother or 
nurse a more simple diet, or by means of medicine, which 
a judicious physician can best prescribe, among which they 
consider minute doses of supercarbonate of soda the best. 

" But can nothing be done to palliate the evil until we 
can obtain pure milk ? M. D'Arcet made the experiment 
in his own family of adding one half a grain of super- 
carbonate of soda to a pint of new milk from a city-fed 
cow, and succeeded in rendering it harmless at least 
and far more nutritious. One of his children, so feeble that 
he despaired of being able to save him, was thus suitably 
nourished, and grew up to vigorous health, by observing 
daily the quality of the mother's and finally of the cow's 

16 



182 ACIDITY CORRECTED. 

milk, and taking the proper measures to correct its defects. 
Now it will be incomparably better to procure the pure 
milk of the grass-fed cows on the banks of the Hudson, 
and on the hills of Connecticut, than thus to feed the poor 
children with a drugged mixture ; but it will be at least a 
temporary palliative until the northern rail-road can be 
completed, and pure milk can be obtained as easily as the 
pure water of the Croton river." 

This correspondent concludes his letter with a very 
proper caution to housekeepers to beware of converting 
food into medicine, by increasing the quantity of super- 
carbonate of soda. "I have known," he remarks, " this 
simple, harmless thing, as it called, even in the form of ex- 
cessive drafts of soda water, produce sores in the mouth 
and lips, which indicate corresponding sores in the stom- 
ach ; and this was followed by all the miseries of dyspepsia 
and decline. An able physician assures me, that he 
could ascribe the death of a patient/ from a similar state 
of mouth and stomach, to nothing but the far-famed morn- 
ing cordial of Connecticut lay-physicians, ' pearlash and 
cider.' It is time the world had learned that medicine can- 
not be safely used as daily food or drink, without leading to 
disease." 

The interest of the facts in the foregoing communica- 
tion, has induced us to introduce it nearly entire. It will 
have been observed that the alkalescency of milk as an 
unvarying test of its goodness, is insisted upon, and also 
that the leading principles we are endeavoring to establish 
are recognized and endorsed by some of the most saga- 
cious and expert analysts in Europe. Truth is truth, and 
cannot be invalidated by discrepancies of opinions. But 
this striking coincidence, being the result of independent 
observation and scientific inquiry, it evidently presents a 



COINCIDENT RESULTS. 



183 



broader basis for public confidence, than was before pos- 
sessed ; and as the general positions are of great practical 
importance to the physiologists and philanthropists of our 
own country, it may be hoped that, in view of the authori- 
ties by which they are sustained, none will be induced to 
reject them without careful experimental examination. 

But to return. If alkalescency is an unvarying attri- 
bute of healthy milk, then it follows that slop-milk and 
other kinds similarly produced are unhealthy ; for all such 
milk, as demonstrated by our own experiments, is uniformly 
acid. We have never known an exception ; and nothing 
less than a miracle in vital chemistry could make it other- 
wise. Other causes doubtless contribute to this result ; 
but it may suffice to remark, that the slop is usually eaten 
in the acetous state, and is so powerfully acid, as rapidly 
to decompose iron. We have observed an inch iron pump- 
stave, by being exposed to its action, destroyed in a short 
time. The milk is not only proved to be acid by appro- 
priate tests, but when fresh is often sour to the taste. In 
summer it will spoil in four or five hours, while grass-milk, 
with no greater care, will keep from twelve to twenty-four 
hours. 

It may be in place here to state, that " beer-grains" 
or the refuse of the breweries, which are in so great de- 
mand for the use of city milk-dairies in England, and also 
to some extent in this country, uniformly produce, it is be- 
lieved, acid milk ; such at least has been the character of 
every sample which has come under our observation. It 
is conceded that beer-grains, when used with other proper 
food, are more nutritious and healthy for cattle than slop ; 
they keep the cows in better condition, and make richer 
milk. But this is all that can be said in their favor, for the 
milk by experiment is invariably found to be acid. It is, 



184 brewers' grains. 

of course, unhealthy, and should be rejected. Why should 
it be used, when pure alkaline milk can be obtained ? If 
the choice was between slop-milk and that produced from 
beer-grains, the latter should be preferred. But as we are 
not obliged to use either, both should be unhesitatingly 
discarded. Let there be no compromise with these evils. 
When complete reform is practicable no half-way measures 
should be attempted. Besides, there is no more necessity 
nor consistency in supporting the brewery, than in patron- 
izing the distillery. 

From the accounts published in foreign journals, it 
appears, that the condition of our population in regard to 
milk, is incomparably worse than any thing which came 
under the observation of the French chemists. The slop- 
milk with which this community is deluged, is not only acid, 
the chief thing of which they complain, but is innutritious, 
and diseased, and drugged, and diluted besides. There 
appears, therefore, no remedy or alternative in our case, 
but utterly to reject it. So thoroughly convinced are we 
of its deleterious properties, that we would not give it to a 
dog whose life we valued ; and in these conclusions, every 
impartial mind, on careful examination, will doubtless 
concur. Essential as milk is deemed in domestic economy, 
it were certainly better to forego its use altogether, than 
by its consumption risk the health of our families, and 
countenance an imposition which is insidiously destroying 
the lives of thousands. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

NUTRITIOUS PROPERTIES OF MILK. 

Specific gravity of milk. — By what affected.— The lactometer.— 
Methods of ascertaining the specific gravity of milk. — The pro- 
portions of cream and curd by measure. — Husted and Mead's 
dairy.— Lee and Wolcott's. — Morris's. — Fisher's. — Townsend's. 
— Milk from a city-fed cow. — Samples of slop-milk. — Underhill's 
dairy. — Tables showing the results of various examinations of 
milk. — The superiority of pure milk, for culinary purposes. — 
Slop-milk deficient in oil and albumen. — Letter from a physician. 
— Adulteration of milk with drugs. — Also with water. — Iniquity 
of these practices. 

We advance another step in the investigation. It has 
been shown that in slop-milk an acid quality predomi- 
nates. But does this fluid in other respects possess the usual 
properties of good milk 1 Whatever may have been pre- 
dicated concerning it, the qualities of the article itself, so 
far as these can be ascertained by appropriate tests and 
analysis, must determine its character. Is such milk nu- 
tritious ? This is an essential quality. As milk is defi- 
cient in nutritive properties, in the same ratio it is of 
little value. 

In the former part of this work, milk was described as 
consisting of three staminal prinnciples, viz. sugar, oil, 
albumen, and certain saline matters, more or less perfectly 
combined, and suspended in an aqueous medium. These 
elementary principles constitute the nutrient properties of 

16* 



186 SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF MILK. 

the fluid, and impart to it a greater specific gravity than 
water. Its average specific gravity, according to some 
authors, is 1030, whilst others make it 1032, and even 
1035, water being 1000. But as we are unacquainted with 
the milk, the specific gravity of which has been furnished 
us, and as almost every specimen, owing to the influence 
of temperature, food, age, health, etc., upon animals, 
has a specific gravity peculiar to itself, it is proposed to 
adopt as a standard of comparison, that which nature sup- 
plies in our own country, the milk of cows kept in a 
proper manner upon natural aliment. For this purpose we 
have not selected the milk of any one cow, as individuals 
are known greatly to differ in the richness of their milk ; 
but have taken from the aggregate product of a dairy, where 
the milk of each animal has been promiscuously mingled 
with the others, a small quantity as a sample of the aver- 
age quality ; and this rule has been strictly observed in 
every specimen submitted to examination. 

As the density of milk is often increased by adultera- 
tions, it is not always possible to determine the compara- 
tive goodness of specimens, merely by the weight. But as 
new milk has a specific gravity of 1030, and water 1000, 
when water is the only adulterant, a small quantity mix- 
ed with the milk, may thus be readily detected. 

Instruments denominated lactometers, have been con- 
trived to ascertain the comparative qualities of milk by its 
specific gravity. The principle of one of these instruments 
is similar to the hydrometer. It consists of a glass tube 
with a graduated scale rising from a hollow bulb, to which 
is attached a smaller ball with weights that serve to sink 
and balance the instrument in the fluid, as represented by 
the cut. When plunged into milk, it will take a higher or 



THE LACTOMETER. 



187 



lower position according to the density of the fluid ; but the 
indications of this instrument, are found to be less accurate 
than is desirable. 







Another lactometer " for ascertaining the richness of 
milk from its specific gravity, by its degree of warmth 
taken by a thermometer, on comparing its specific gravity 
with its warmth," was invented by Dicas of Liverpool, but 
never came into use. Another invention for the same pur- 
pose, was made by Mrs. Lovi, of Edinburgh, in 1816. It 
consists of aerometric beads, by which the specific gravity 
of the milk is tried when first new-milked, and next when 
the cream is removed. When milk is tried as soon as it 
cools, say to sixty degrees, and again after it has been 
thoroughly skimmed, it will be found that the skimmed 
milk is of considerably greater gravity ; and as this increase 
depends upon the separation of the lighter cream, the 
amount of the increase, or the difference between the speci- 
fic gravity of the fresh and skimmed milk, will bear pro- 



188 



THE LACTOMETER. 



portion to, and may be employed as a measure of the rela- 
tive quantities of the oily matter or butter contained in 
different milks. The specific gravity of skimmed milk de- 
pends both on the quantity of the saccharo-saline matters, 
and of the curd. To estimate the relative quantities of the 
curd, and by that determine the value of milk for yielding 
cheese, it is only required to curdle the skim-milk, and 
ascertain the specific gravity of the whey. The whey 
will, of course, be found of lower specific gravity than the 
skimmed milk, and the number of the degrees of difference, 
affords a measure of the relative qualities of curd. Accord- 
ing to this hypothesis, the aerometric beads may be em- 
ployed to ascertain the qualities of milk, relatively both to 
the manufacture of butter and cheese.* 

But the most simple and accurate method of ascertain- 
ing the specific gravity of milk, is by means of a graduated 
bottle, of the capacity of 1000 grains of water, which is 
adopted as a unit or standard of comparison. The writer 
caused a small glass bottle, with a long and slender neck, 
to be made in form like that represented below, and hav- 




♦ Trans. High. Soc, Sec. V. Part I. 



THE LACTOMETER. 



189 



ing weighed it accurately, introduced into it exactly 1000 
grains of pure water, and marked the level of the water 
with a file on the neck of the bottle. The bottle thus 
graduated and filled with milk to the level of the water 
mark, of course, when weighed at the same temperature, 
indicated with great correctness its specific gravity in rela- 
tion to this standard. 

The simplest and best description of lactometer for as- 
certaining the relative richness of milk by the cream 
it yields, is a glass tube one inch in diameter and twelve 
inches long, supported by a foot, as exhibited by the fol- 
lowing cut. 




Ten inches of the tube are graduated into as many equal 
parts, and the three upper divisions of the instrument are 
each subdivided into ten others, which being numbered 
from the top downwards, forma scale of hundredths. Being 
filled up to ten inches high with milk, and kept at a suit- 



190 OBSERVATIONS ON THE TABLES. 

able temperature for twelve hours, the cream it contains 
will rise to the surface, and the scale denote at a glance the 
percentage of cream compared with the milk. To ascertain 
the quantity of curd in the milk, first take off the cream, and 
having coagulated the milk, separate the curd from the 
whey, and the residue of whey, as indicated by the grada- 
tions of the instrument, will show the relative per cent, of 
curd. These particulars have been presented, because it 
is believed that they can scarcely fail to be both interesting 
and useful. With these instructions, any person in ordinary 
life who is not a practical chemist, and is without the con- 
venience of a laboratory, may yet by simple and easy ex- 
periments test the correctness of the statements offered to 
his consideration, and effectually protect himself from frau- 
dulent imposition in an important article of diet. 

In order to avoid prolix detail, and also for more con- 
venient reference, the results of the examinations of differ- 
ent samples of milk are presented in tabular form. The 
Tables, however, will be better understood by a few explan- 
atory observations. 

OBSERVATIONS ON TABLE NO. I. 

Sample No. 1, as marked in the Table, is the average 
of ten experiments, made during the months of July and 
August, 1841. The milk is from the dairies of Messrs. Hus- 
ted and Mead, Greenwich, Connecticut, about thirty miles 
from the city of New-York. The cattle drink from the 
running brook, and, whilst the season permits, are allowed 
to range and feed on the herbage of the fields, without re- 
straint. The milk is conveyed to the city by wagons and 
steamboat, in tin canisters, nicely fitted to a square box. 
In hot weather, the interstices are filled with ice, and a 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE TABLES. 191 

similar precaution is always found sufficient to protect it 
from the greatest heat. The milk is distributed to the cus- 
tomers in excellent condition from wagons once a day in 
winter and twice a day in summer, six days in the week. 
On Saturday the enterprising proprietors, by an arrange- 
ment with the neighboring farmers, are enabled to furnish 
a duplicate supply of milk, so as to rest on the Sabbath. 
The author, having visited these dairies, and his family hav- 
ing been supplied with milk therefrom for nearly three 
years, he is from personal knowledge enabled to state these 
particulars. 

No. 2 is the result of five examinations, made during 
the month of August. The milk is from Messrs. Lee 
and Wolcott's New T -Jersey Grazing Company, near New- 
Brunswick, fourteen miles distant. The cattle enjoy an 
unrestrained range over a thousand acres of uninclosed 
pasture ; and the general conditions essential to the pro- 
duction of good milk, are most probably fulfilled. The 
concern appears to be very honestly conducted. The 
milk is brought in good condition, and with the most sat- 
isfactory assurances that it contains not a particle of 
adulteration of any kind As no distribution of the milk 
is made on the Sabbath, it is brought from the country 
late on Saturday evening ; and with the usual precaution 
of scalding the milk and setting it in a cool place, no diffi- 
culty in preserving it sweet is experienced. 

No. 3 is also the result of five specimens, from Morris's 
dairy, Morrisania, Westchester county, eight miles from 
the city. The establishment numbers at present about 
one hundred and thirty cows ; they are stabled only at 
night for the convenience of milking, and during the day, 
while the season permits, are allowed to graze in the 
pastures. The food of the cattle consists of herbaceous and 



192 OBSERVATIONS ON THE TABLES. 

granular substances, such as grass, hay, Indian meal, 
ship-stuff, and occasionally small portions of ground oil 
cake ; and, as we are assured, the treatment necessary to 
the healthy condition of the cattle and the production of 
pure milk, is carefully observed. The milk is conveyed 
to the city in carriages fitted for the purpose, and distribu- 
ted to customers in good style, and, as is affirmed, without 
dilution or adulteration of any kind. 

No. 4 is the average of three samples. The milk is 
understood to be brought to the city by a Mr. Fisher, who 
is chiefly supplied by the farmers at White Plains, twenty- 
eight miles distant. It is doubtless produced from natural 
food, by healthy cattle, and is presumed to be unadultera- 
ted. 

No. 5 is the average result of five examinations. The 
milk is brought from To wnsend's dairy, Astoria, Long Island. 
We have no other particulars except the declaration of the 
distributer of the milk, that the dairy is properly managed ; 
and the fair quality of the article would lead to this con- 
clusion. 

No. 6 is a sample of milk from a city-fed cow, which 
was stabled at night, and during the day usually allowed 
the range of a small yard. Her food was chiefly the re- 
fuse of kitchens, some hay, leaves of vegetables, and every 
day a mess of Indian meal or shorts. The milk, as will be 
seen, was not deficient in nutrient properties ; but it was 
invariably acid, even when fresh drawn, as shown by tests, 
though not perceptible to the taste. And this peculiarity 
we have found an unfailing characteristic of milk similarly- 
produced by city-fed cows, which proves that it is less 
healthy than pure country milk. 

Those dairies only are mentioned, whose milk was sub- 
jected to examination ; but besides the foregoing, there 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE TABLES. 193 

are numerous others which produce pure and healthy 
milk. 

OBSERVATIONS ON TABLE NO. II. 

Samples No. 7,8, 9, 10, and 11, in the second Table, 
are the average of numerous examinations of milk from 
slop dairies, located in Brooklyn, Williamsburgh, Green- 
wich village, and near Johnson's distillery, New-York. A 
difference will be observed in the proportions of cream and 
curd in some of the specimens ; but this may be readily 
explained without supposing that there was any radical 
difference of quality. Each sample, as shown by appro- 
priate tests, was acid ; and each being produced by cows 
fed on slop and confined in stables, they were all essentially 
alike, of course undeserving of a distinct or more partic- 
ular notice. 

No. 12 is the average of four specimens of milk from 
Underbill's dairy, at the Wallabout, two or three miles dis- 
tant from the city. We were induced to visit this over- 
grown slop-milk concern, in order to obtain by personal 
investigation and inquiry a correct knowledge of its con- 
dition and management. The whole arrangement appears 
to have been made for the purpose of consuming on the 
spot, the slop of Wilson's extensive whisky distillery, to 
which it doubtless forms an important and profitable ap- 
pendage. The number of cows, we were informed, was 
about 200. They are shut up in along range of low, filthy 
pens, adjoining the distillery, for the greater convenience 
of receiving the slush hot from the tanks without the ex- 
pense and trouble of cartage. We should not omit to men- 
tion that about twenty cows belonging to the dairy were 
kept, it was said, on dry feed without slop ; but whether 
the milk of these cows was sold separately, or in what 

17 



194 OBSERVATIONS ON THE TABLES. 

other way it was made available to the credit of the con- 
cern, we did not learn. The samples of milk examined 
contained, as will be seen, more cream and curd than some 
other slop specimens, which may be explained by the sup- 
position that the milk contained less water ; the difference 
affords no proof that it is either more pure or healthy than 
other slop-milk. — But as it respects the dairy, after a care- 
ful inspection we are compelled to admit, that we discov- 
ered nothing worthy of notice in which it differed from 
the repulsive and disgusting condition of other slop estab- 
lishments that we have elsewhere described. We also 
learned that the proprietor of the distillery himself kept 
ninety cows, the milk of which he sold to the small retail 
dealers. 

The samples of milk referred to in the tables, are of new 
or uncreamed milk. This is important to be known, be- 
cause the specific gravity of milk is materially affected by 
the cream, which is specifically lighter than the other con- 
stituents. 



TABLES 

Showing the Specific Gravity, Characteristics, and rate per 
cent, of Cream and Curd by Measure, contained in different 
Samples of milk. 

TAELE I. 



MILK OF COUNTRY DAIRIES. 


Samples of 
Milk. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Character- 
istics. 


Per cent, of 
Cream. 


Per cent, of 
Curd. 


Number 1 


1.030 


Alkaline 


10 


12 


" 2 


1.029 


Alkaline 


10 


11 


« 3 


1.028 


Alkaline 


9 


9 


" 4 


1.026 


Alkaline 


8 


9 


" 5 


1.027 


Alkaline 


8 


10 


" 6 


1.026 


Acid 


7 


9 


TABLE II. 




MILK OF DI 


STILL ERY-SLC 


)P DAIRIES. 




Samples of 
Milk. 


Specific 
gravity. 


Character- 
istics. 


Per cent, of 
Cream. 


Per cent, of 
Curd. 


Number 7 


1013 


Acid 


3£ 


4 


« 8 


1013 


Acid 


3£ 


5 


9 


1015 


Acid 


4 


4 


" 10 


1016 


Acid 


5 


5 


" 11 


1016 


Acid 


4i 


5 


" 12 


1024 


Acid 


6 


8 



196 PURE MILK. 

These examinations demonstrate, that slop-milk con- 
tains less than half the nourishment of the milk which is 
produced from grasses and other natural food ; of course, 
one quart of pure milk is worth as much for dietetic or cul- 
inary purposes, as two quarts of the vapid distillery slush ; 
and such is the unvarying" testimony of those persons who 
have tried both kinds. The proprietor of an extensive 
refectory states, that for several months in the year the or- 
dinary consumption at his establishment was about eighty 
quarts of distillery milk daily ; but since the introduction 
of the pure article, although the business of the concern 
has increased, a little more than half the quantity of milk 
formerly used, suffices for prepared dishes, whilst the de- 
mand for unprepared milk as food, has considerably aug- 
mented. The keeper of a large hotel remarked, that a 
few drops of good milk will color and flavor a dish of tea 
or coffee, whilst of slop-milk so much must be introduced, 
as to spoil the taste, and cool the beverage below an 
agreeable temperature ; and in preparing and cooking 
various dishes, pure milk not only greatly improves their 
savor and quality, but so diminishes the proportion of more 
costly ingredients as to make it an economical saving in 
that article, of at least 50 per cent. The conductors also 
of many other similar establishments, of boarding-houses, 
etc., besides numerous private families who have had op- 
portunities of comparing and judging correctly, concur 
substantially in the foregoing statements. 

But there is another fact ascertained by experiment, 
which should go far towards settling the question of the 
innutritiousness of slop-milk. The nutrient properties of 
milk, we have shown, consist chiefly of oil and albumen ; but 
so deficient is slop-milk of these essential attributes, that it 
is incapable of producing butter or cheese. A coagulum of 



a physician's testimony. 197 

sufficient consistence and cohesiveness for cheese-making 
cannot be obtained from it ; and whilst the milk of one 
good cow properly managed will afford one pound of but- 
ter daily, the milk of the largest dairy that is fed on slop 
alone, will not by the ordinary process of churning yield 
one ounce. It is true, that when the milk is set to cream, 
a thin white pellicle or scum rises to the surface, but when 
churned it does not collect and coalesce so as to compose 
butter, but, by the agitation, is diffused through the liquid 
in the form of froth. If then it were pure, and possessed 
no deleterious properties, it does not afford the nourishment 
that is requisite for the growth and sustenance of a child. 
On this point, any necessary amount of professional testi- 
mony might be adduced, but in this place a single extract 
may be sufficient. Says a physician : " A greater blessing 
cannot be conferred upon the community than by producing 
a thorough reformation in the milk department. It is a 
subject in which the health of thousands is involved. I 
have given some attention to it from the circumstance of 
having the constitution of a fine boy, the delicacy of whose 
mother compelled her to nurse from the bottle, entirely 
undermined, and scarred with blotches to this day ; while 
my other children, nursed at the breast, enjoy perfect health. 
Uncertain of the cause of my boy's pining and drooping, 
it at length occurred to me to analyze the milk, which I 
found to be the mere dregs of a distillery ; scarcely one 
particle of nutriment to a pint. I found a pint of warm 
water, a teaspoonful of flour, and two grains of magnesia 
to contain more nutriment than a pint of swill, called 
milk. 

" It has often occurred to me as surprising, that while 
we have municipal laws to regulate the quality of bread 
stuffs, and other articles of food, the corporation should be 

17* 



198 



ADULTERATED MILK. 



perfectly reckless of what we are compelled to administer 
to the stomachs of our children. There is not a more cer- 
tain poison in the form of food, than this swill-milk. Be- 
sides its deleterious properties, it does not contain sufficient 
nutriment to support a child. 1 am convinced that there 
is no other cause so baneful to the health of a community 
of children. The price of good milk, should never be an 
objection to its use. For myself, I would sooner pay two 
shillings a quart for milk from grass-fed cows, than take 
the swill at any rate." As analysis, facts, and experi- 
ence speak one language on this subject, we will not des- 
pair of success in this much needed reform. 

But deficient in nutriment as slop-milk is, and must be, 
inasmuch as it partakes of the weak and diluent proper- 
ties of the slush from which it is produced, yet, as we firm- 
ly believe, it is never sold to the consumer as it is drawn 
from the cow, but is frequently drugged, and always 
diluted. 

Slop-milk is naturally very thin, and of a pale bluish 
color. In order to disguise its bad qualities and render it 
saleable, it is necessary to give it color and consistence. 
That it is often adulterated, is proved by analysis, and the 
confessions of those who from principle have relinquished 
the practice. Starch, sugar, flour, plaster of Paris, chalk, 
eggs, anatto, etc., are used for this purpose ; such sub- 
stances being preferred, of course, which have the strong- 
est affinity for the fluid, and will not readily precipitate.* 

* The presence of flour, starch, etc., in milk, may be detected by 
adding to the milk a solution of iodine in alcohol, or by adding a 
little nitric acid to the milk, and then a few drops of a solution of 
iodine of potassium. Either of these tests communicates a blue color 
to milk or cream which contains arrow-root, rice-powder, flour, or 
any other substance of which starch is the constituent. — Domestic 
Chemist, p. 148. 



ADULTERATED MILK. 199 

These adulterations enable the vender to give the milk a 
proper consistence and a beautiful white color, so as to di- 
lute the "wretched slush with about an equal quantity of 
water, without detection. We have frequently observed 
insoluble residuums at the bottom of milk vessels, but have 
never submitted them to analysis. 

The custom of watering this kind of milk is notorious, 
and we believe, is universal. We have never known an 
instance where the practice has been charged upon the 
venders, under circumstances in which truth might be ex- 
pected, that they have dared to deny it. In a visit for in- 
formation on the objects of this work to one of the larger 
slop-dairy establishments, where many of the proprietors 
were present, one of them remarked that he sold three 
qualities of milk at three different prices, viz. four, five, and 
six cents a quart. We inquired the difference. He said 
he sold the real milk at six cents a quart. " What," we 
exclaimed, " is there no water in it V He was inclined 
to deny that there was ; but others had confessed that they 
diluted their best milk, and a denial in his case would have 
been contradicted by every other man present. " And 
sure, sir," said he, " you would not have me cheat my cus- 
tomers. I put in just water enough to give good measure 
without wronging myself, which pleases them and makes 
the tale of the milk hold out." " And how is it," we in- 
quired, " with the five cent milk ?" " In that," said he, 
" I put more water." " And how with the four cent milk ?" 
He replied : " In it I put as much water as I please." 
These statements, as no man impugned them, were proba- 
bly near the truth. Another dealer remarked, that whether 
the milk was sold at four, five, or six cents a quart, 
his rule was to make it average six cents a quart for the 
undiluted milk. Of course, that which he sold at four 



200 ADULTERATED MILK. 

cents, was one third water. But the others disputed this 
statement, and said he put in far more water than that pro- 
portion, which was, at least, a virtual admission that such 
was their own custom. 

Mixing water with milk is by many esteemed a venial 
offence, because they regard it merely in a pecuniary point 
of view. But it should be considered as involving inter- 
ests of far greater magnitude. It is the deterioration of 
an indispensable article of food, which in its best condition 
as furnished by the slop establishments is insufficient to sup- 
port life ; and by relying upon it in this depraved and dilu- 
ted state, as is done in thousands of instances, as the staple 
diet of young children who are incapable of understanding 
or of expressing their wants, the inost serious consequences 
ensue ; for without adequate nourishment they must inevita- 
bly perish of exhaustion. Besides, we see not why the 
vending of such a drugged mixture, or merely diluted with 
water, is not as fraudulent and more iniquitous, than to 
pass pewter for silver. A man is sent to prison for utter- 
ing a spurious piece of coin, which cannot damage the re- 
ceiver beyond its pretended value. But here, by basely 
counterfeiting an indispensable article of food, and impos- 
ing it upon the unsuspecting for that which is not what its 
name imports, health is deranged, lingering and distress- 
ing diseases are induced, and life itself is destroyed with 
impunity. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

DELUSIONS ON TEE SUBJECT OF MILK. 

Instructions of experience. — Prevalence of popular mistakes. — A 
knowledge of our ignorance important. — Diseased food always 
unhealthy. — Illustrated in the case of the human infant — Influence 
of drugs on the child when taken by the mother. — Sensibility of 
the infant system.— Analogous inferences. — Practical importance 
thereof. — Water, as a diluent.— Milk the natural food of the in- 
fant. 

As this subject, in its relations to health, addresses it- 
self chiefly to observation and experience, a labored ex- 
position of the principles of dietetics would be irrelevant to 
our object. No fact in physiological science is more clearly 
ascertained, than that health and life are affected by the 
quality and condition of the food received into the system. 
The instructions of experience on this subject are so uni- 
form, that the multitude, though unaccustomed to investi- 
gate the intricate relations of cause and effect, and unin- 
structed in the principles and phenomena of life, are yet in 
many cases not necessarily betrayed into very serious or 
dangerous mistakes. 

But the origin of some popular errors which have 
proved extensively mischievous, has been more involved in 
mystery, or so far removed from casual observation, that 
men intelligent on other subjects, have regarded the evils 
resulting therefrom as the inevitable condition of humani- 
ty ; when, in fact, they were the penalty of ignorance, 
which a knowledge of organic and physical laws would 
have enabled them to remove. 



202 POPULAR MISTAKES. 

Witness the delusion which until recently prevailed, in 
the use of alcoholic beverages, to an extent that threatened 
to desolate the nation. Many saw and deplored the evil ; 
all in some way were sufferers by it ; and some few were 
intent upon the discovery and application of a remedy. 
But the great mass of mankind, both learned and unlearn- 
ed, were so effectually entrenched behind their ignorance 
or their prejudices, that the ravages of the destroyer con- 
tinued unchecked ; and the annual sacrifice of hundreds of 
thousands of victims failed for successive generations to 
secure the practical appreciation of a few plain physiologi- 
cal truths, which were of sufficient efficacy to have ar- 
rested the evil. 

A knowledge of our ignorance, therefore, is the first 
step to its removal. Every reform that has ever been pro- 
jected, whether physical, moral, or political, has progress- 
ed pari passu with the conviction that some new truths 
were to be learned, or some new principles were to be de- 
veloped, which while they deeply concerned the individual, 
would on their adoption confer important benefits upon so- 
ciety. 

That the public, at present, is beguiled into the support 
of a system which is replete with injurious consequences, 
cannot, we think, be doubted. So far as the subject relates 
to health, how many are there who seem to act on the 
principle, that it is of little consequence what they eat, or 
what they drink, provided they do not indulge to excess — 
than which a more irrational and destructive doctrine was 
never propagated. Improper or diseased food is always 
inimical to health. The positive injunction of the Mosaic 
law, which prohibited the eating of diseased flesh, or of 
cattle that died of themselves, was founded on this princi- 
ple, and was as much a humane dietetical regulation, as a 



POPULAR MISTAKES. 203 

matter of civil polity in regard to the Hebrew nation. 
There is no clanger of overrating the importance of this 
subject. And as it is essential to the desired reform, that 
correct opinions prevail on this point, it will be useful 
briefly to illustrate the principle; for all, on reflection, 
will be convinced, that the milk of diseased animals, kept 
on unnatural food, when used as an article of diet, must be 
inconsistent with the principles of organic life, and is con- 
trary to all our knowledge of the connection which subsists 
between living bodies and the appropriate forms of matter 
by which they are sustained. 

. Who does not know, for illustration, that the health of 
the infant is affected by the condition of the sustenance it 
receives from its mother ? We speak not now of heredi- 
tary disease, by which the iniquities of the parent are vis- 
ited upon the children, or of infectious diseases by which 
a healthy body becomes diseased by contact or otherwise ; 
but of those induced by the noxious qualities of the infant's 
aliment consequent upon the deranged health of the mo- 
ther. Is the mother diseased ? The virus generated in 
the vitiated secretions, taints the nourishment, and is com- 
municated to the child. 

The influence which many medicines have over the 
sucking infant when taken by the nurse, is well known. 
" Children," says Pereira, " may be salivated by sucking 
nurses under the influence of mercury, or purged by the ex- 
hibition of drastics, or narcotized by the administration of 
opiates to the nurse. These are facts," he remarks, " of 
the greatest moment in reference to the frequency of disease 
in cows, and to the possible morbific character of their 
milk."* 

* Mat. Med., Part II. p. 1407. 



204 INFANT HEALTH. 

So sensible, indeed, are the delicate organs of the babe, 
as to be injuriously affected even by the strong mental 
emotions of the mother, (see page 97,) and in a greater 
degree by almost the slightest changes or irregularity in 
her diet. Acidulated draughts, as every nursing mother 
knows, when taken by herself will produce pain and irri- 
tation in the system of the infant ; while tepid herb bever- 
ages, which are slightly anodyne, will produce their ap- 
propriate effects by assuaging pain and inducing sleep. 
If wine, beer, or toddy is used by the nurse, the narcotic 
properties of these liquors on the child are manifested by 
the drunken lethargy that ensues, which is as pernicious, 
unnatural, and unrefreshing as is the stupor of opium.* 

If these facts cannot be disproved in the relations of 
the child to its mother, neither can they be when its food 
is derived from any other source. Unwholesome aliment, 

* Indulgence in the use of stimulating beverages by mothers has 
probably been more destructive to their own health, and to the health 
and lives of their offspring, than any other cause that can be men- 
tioned. Whilst any desirable amount of medical evidence might be 
adduced in support of this position, it must here suffice to quote the 
testimony of Dr. Courtenay, of London, who in a period of about 
eight years attended 1127 mothers, as their professional adviser; and 
he invariably found, other circumstances being equal, that those who 
never tasted malt liquors, wine, or spirits, enjoyed the best health. 
" Mothers," he affirms, " who could never nurse their children under 
the ale and porter system, without greatly suffering in health, after 
relinquishing the use of these baneful stimulants, have experienced 
perfect freedom from disorder during lactation. Nor was this all : 
the offspring of such mothers have enjoyed an unprecedented im- 
munity from disease also." He carefully informs us that he refers 
to " the ill effects of the moderate, not the immoderate use of these 
falselydenominatedstrengtheningbeverages." He adds : "thousands 
of children are annually cut off by convulsions, etc., from the effect of 
these beverages acting through the mother.'" — London Lancet, Feb. 
1840. 



MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. 205 

by whatever cause produced, can never sustain the body in 
health and vigor ; but on the contrary, will induce much 
physical suffering, and, in proportion to its use, make dire- 
ful inroads on human life. 

But whilst the principle in the abstract may appear too 
obvious to be disputed, its bearings upon health in the sub- 
ject before us, having never been an object of inquiry, are 
of course, not understood ; and yet the happiness, health, 
and lives of multitudes, depend upon its correct, practical 
appreciation. 

Next to water, which is nature's own beverage and 
the proper diluent for man, milk, even in our artificial 
modes of living, is an article of indispensable necessity, 
and universal use. Every man and every woman, there- 
fore, but especially every child in the community, has an 
important stake in this matter, which it becomes parents 
and those on whom the responsibilities of life rest, seriously 
to consider. 

Milk is the natural food of the infant. It is the first, 
and during the feebleness of early life, the only aliment. 
All are born with an appetency for this natural fluid, which 
neither cooking nor chemistry can imitate; and the relish 
for its use is seldom lost, except as the taste becomes viti- 
ated by luxurious and unnatural indulgences. Holding 
a medium place between animal and vegetable diet, when 
pure it is at once the most palatable, healthy, and nutritive 
aliment with which our nurseries and tables can be sup- 
plied. It is not surprising, therefore, that immense quan- 
tities are used, or that so much importance should be at- 
tached to it as an article of diet for children. 

We possess no certain data by which to estimate the 
proportion of the infants in our populous cities that are 
reared by hand ; but the average, for obvious reasons, is 

18 



206 MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. 

far greater than in rural districts. Many mothers in our 
large towns, from constitutional feebleness, and others from 
infirm health, are incapable of nursing their offspring ; but 
far more from unnatural and justly reprehensible habits of 
life, completely disqualify themselves for discharging this 
important and endearing duty. Hence, in the judgment of 
several distinguished medical practitioners, whose ample op- 
portunities for observation entitle their opinions to respect, 
more than three-fourths of the infants born in our cities, 
are sustained in whole or in part on artificial diet. In 
some instances semi-fluid farinaceous substances, etc., are 
prepared as substitutes for the natural food of the infant ; 
but as a general rule, cow's milk, being cheaper and most 
readily procured, is regarded as the grand succedaneum. 
This, certainly, is a correct conclusion, provided the milk 
is pure ; for such milk is more analogous to the infant's 
natural food, and is better adapted to its digestive organs 
and sustenance than is any artificial preparation. But, 
unfortunately, it is not pure milk, but the diseased and in- 
nutritious slush we have described, which is substituted 
for the nourishment of the maternal breast, at a period, too, 
when the powers of life are most feeble, and when the de- 
mands for healthy and appropriate aliment to supply both 
the consumption and growth of the system, are most im- 
perative. Sickness, and an extensive waste of life might 
be expected as the inevitable consequences of so flagrant 
an outrage of the laws of organic existence; and such we 
believe is the result, as is indicated by the excessive in- 
fant mortality in our cities. Yet among the many excel- 
lent treatises published on the hygienic treatment of chil- 
dren, not one has referred to the pernicious influence of 
bad milk, although, as it respects them, this holds the most 
important place of all aliments. Such, indeed, is the ah* 



MILK THE FOOD OF INFANTS. 207 

solute want of information on the subject by the great mass 
of the people, that its noxious properties are not even sus- 
pected, although there is strong probability that it is annu- 
ally destroying thousands. With the earnest desire, there- 
fore, of inciting physicians to observe and record facts as a 
basis of future deductions on the subject, and of arousing 
those interested to its immediate consideration, we next pro- 
pose to show, more fully than we have yet attempted, that 
the evils attributed to this pernicious article of food/appear 
to be sustained by experience, facts, and probable argu- 
ments. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

INFANT MORTALITY IN FOREIGN CITIES. 

Infant physiology. — Analogies of nature. — Physical and moral de- 
basement in Paris. — Also in London. — In Liverpool. — Birming- 
ham.— Glasgow, etc. — Consequences therefrom. — Infant mortali- 
ty in England — Foundling hospitals.— In Paris. — London. — Am- 
sterdam. — Glasgow. — Improvement in the duration of adult life. 
— Also of infant life. — Table of infant mortality in London. — 
General diminution of infant mortality. — Deductions. 

A popular writer on infant physiology remarks, "that 
the successful rearing of every living being depends chiefly 
on the proper adaptation of its treatment to the laws of its 
constitution. When these are in harmony, the failures 
will be few and unimportant, and arise chiefly from those 
unavoidable accidents and exposures, to which all created 
beings are, and will continue to be, more or less subjected. 
But where the treatment and laws are not in harmony, 
failure, disease, and untimely death, may be expected as 
the most frequent and certain results."* 

That these principles are correct, is shown by the 
analogies of nature. In the young of the lower orders of 
animals which in physical structure most nearly resemble 
man, though guided merely by brute instinct, the cases of 
mortality amongst them are few, compared with what 
occur in the human family. Whence this difference, if 
not attributable to different modes of treatment ? In the 
former case the unerring dictates of nature are implicitly 
obeyed, which secures the safety and welfare of the animal j 
* Combe on Infancy, p. 21. 



PHYSICAL AND MORAL DEBASEMENT. 209 

whilst in the latter case, boasted human reason either dis- 
dains to consult, or misinterprets and perverts, the laws of 
its own being; and suffering, disease, and excessive 
mortality are the necessary consequences. " If it were 
only," says Dr. Combe, " in wild and barbarous regions 
that this extraordinary mortality occurred, it might seem 
quite in accordance with the hardships with which even 
infancy is there surrounded ; but the startling circumstance 
is, that it happens in the midst of comfort and civilization, 
precisely where the knowledge and means of protection 
are supposed most to abound." 

We cannot glance at the destitution, vice, and suffer- 
ing, which, as described by their own writers, extensively 
prevail in European cities, without the conviction that the 
conjunction of numerous unfavorable circumstances must 
make fearful havoc, especially of infant life, and thus great- 
ly augment the bills of mortality. " In France," a late wri- 
ter remarks, " out of a population of thirty-two millions, 
twenty-two millions have but six cents a-day to defray all 
expenses — food, clothing, and education."* It is easy to 
conceive that a population in such poverty must be ex- 
tremely ignorant and degraded, and life be one ceaseless 
conflict with physical want. And what is true of the des- 
titution and suffering in rural districts, is also true, under 
circumstances of peculiar aggravation, in populous towns. 
In 1833, according to the published tables, the pauper 
population of Paris, described as indigent poor, amounted 
to 77,200 ; but the Office of Charity relieved 90,000. In 
the hospitals there were 13,700 sick and infirm persons ; 
it is also stated that there were 19,886 foundlings. Da- 
lure says that 7,850 children in one year were abandoned 
by their parents ; and in 1827 they amounted to 8,084.f 

* A. Brisbane. f Annuaire pour l'An. 1829. Paris*. 

18* 



210 PHYSICAL AND MORAL DEBASEMENT. 

In the city of London, there is probably more vice, de- 
gradation, and wretchedness, than in any other city in the 
world. In that city it is estimated there are always 12,000 
children undergoing a system of vicious training, to fill the 
ranks of those who are removed by transportation, impris- 
onment, violent or natural death; 30,000 persons live by 
theft and fraud ; 3,000 are regular receivers of stolen goods ; 
10,000 are addicted to gambling ; and 20,000 are beggars 
about the streets ; 15,000 are set down as habitual gin 
drinkers ; 23,000 are annually found drunk in the streets. 
There are 150,000 who have abandoned themselves to sys- 
tematic debauchery and profligacy ; of these, 80,000 are 
females, one tenth of whom die annually under circum- 
stances of wretchedness and suffering of which the mind can 
hardly form a conception.* It is evident where so many 
paupers, drunkards, gamblers, thieves, beggars, vagrants, 
and prostitutes, are congregated within the area of so small 
a spot of earth, no extensive social providence favorable to 
the nurture and protection of infant life, can be supposed to 
exist. On the contrary, profound ignorance and utter 
recklessness of those fixed laws which regulate life and 
health, and upon the observance of which existence de- 
pends, must inevitably inflict upon the population the con- 
sequences of their violation ; and infant life, from its very 
feebleness and helplessness, will first and most extensively 
suffer. 

The Journal of the Statistical Society for January, 1840, 
states, that in Liverpool there are 7,862 inhabited cellars, 
damp, dark, filthy, ill-ventilated and loathsome ; and in 
these lodge 39,300 persons of the laboring class. In Man- 
chester, of 132,230 working people, 14,960 live in cellars. 

* See Statistics of Ciime in London. 






MANCHESTER, BURY, ETC. 211 

'So great," says Gaskell, "is the moral and social degra- 
dation in the female sex among this class of the population, 
as to reduce them below the level of the savage state. 
Upwards of two-thirds of all the children born to this class 
in Manchester, are brought into the world by the aid of 
public charity. The mother pursues her toil almost till 
the hour of delivery — to abandon her tender and delicate in- 
fant, after the interval of a few days, to other and hireling 
hands ; — again to pursue her usual routine of work."* In 
Bury, one third of the working classes are so badly off, that 
in 773 houses, one bed serves for four persons ; in 207, 
one for five; and in 78, one for six human beings. In 
Bristol, 46 out of every 100 of the working people, have 
but one room for a family. 

A member of the British Parliament recently read in 
his place, several letters from his constituents in Birming- 
ham, which state, that in all the manufacturing districts, 
the number of insolvent debtors has been so great, that the 
prisons cannot contain them, and many of them are there- 
fore discharged for w T ant of room — only to find a place in 
the workhouses. The workmen with large families, it 
is affirmed, receive only from six to eleven shillings per 
week, and the poor creatures are obliged to crowd together 
in dwellings, " that are even unfit for brutes."f 

In Glasgow, thirty thousand Irish and Highlanders, ac- 
cording to the description of Dr. Cowan, " wallow in filth, 
crime and wretchedness, in the cellars and wynds of this 
great commercial city." From ten to twenty persons of 
both sexes, lie huddled together in their rags and filth on 
the floor each night. From other sources w 7 e learn, that the 
scenes of wretchedness are indescribable. In that city alone 
in 1837, there were 21,800 cases of fever. 

* Gaskell on Infant Labor, p. 168. t English paper. 



212 MANCHESTER, BURY, ETC. 

The registrar-general states, that he has seen in one 
small garret, the husband sick of a typhus ; a sick child 
laid across the sick man's bed ; two others sleeping under 
the bed; the two window recesses let to two Irish lodgers 
at sixpence a week, as resting places for the night ; the wife, 
a young healthy woman, lying in the same bed with her 
husband for the night, and supporting the family by taking 
in washing, which was hung across the room to dry — the 
parish authorities having forbidden the exposition of linen 
out of the windows !* 

It were easy to multiply similar descriptions, if these 
were not sufficient for our purpose. But the social, civil, 
and moral evils which afflict large masses of the population 
in foreign cities have been so often depicted by others, it is 
unnecessary to enlarge upon them. 

With these appalling pictures of wTetchedness, destitu- 
tion, and demoralization before us, we need no statistics to 
prove that there is a prodigal waste of infant life. No ar- 
gument is required to show, that those who cannot provide 
for themselves, are not likely to provide for their offspring ; 
and a little neglect at a period when most care is needed, 
is sufficient to induce disease and early death. Under such 
circumstances, how few are the probabilities in favor of in- 
fant life ! When such ignorance of the laws of life, and 
destitution of domestic comfort exist, it is more surprising 
that any survive among these classes, than that multitudes 
perish. 

Children in such conditions of society, are regarded as 
burthens and not as blessings ; and as self-preservation is 
even stronger than natural affection, they are cast off, as 
we have seen, to perish by thousands, or peradventure to 

* London Quarterly Review, July, 184 1-] 



VITAL STATISTICS. 213 

be rescued to die in the hands of public charity ; for, de- 
prived of maternal care, the chances of life are essentially 
diminished, as is shown by the proportion of deaths in 
Foundling Hospitals, which must greatly swell the annual 
returns of infant mortality in these places. 

According to the report of the registrar general, the 
average proportion of mortality under the age of one year 
in England and Wales, is 214.54 per 1000, or about 21 
per cent. ; whilst that of the foundlings in Madrid was 67 
per cent. ; in Brussels, from 1812 to 1817, 79 per cent. ; and 
in 1811 at Vienna, 92 per cent. Here is exhibited an ex- 
cess of mortality induced by secondary causes, three and 
even fourfold above what occurs in private life. Dr. 
Combe, referring to these statistics, remarks : " Facts like 
these speak with an authority which no one can venture 
to reject, and show how entirely infant health and life are 
made to depend on our fulfilment or neglect of the laws 
w T hich the Creator has assigned for the regulation of the 
infant constitution."* 

But to return. For a full confirmation of these views, 
as to the extensive destruction of infant life, it is only ne- 
cessary to examine the records of mortality in the cities 
referred to. In Paris, in 1818, the total number of deaths 
was 22,421, of which 3,942, or 17.58 per cent, were 
under the age of one year ; and 24.86 per cent, died be- 
fore the expiration of the second. In London, in 1829, 
the whole number of deaths was 23,526 ; of these 9,057, 
or 38.40 per cent, died under the age of five years. The 
total deaths registered in Liverpool in 1838, were 6,553, 
of which 3,162, or 48.23 per cent., were under the age of 
five years. In Amsterdam, from 1819 to 1829, the deaths 

* Combe on Infancy, p. 31. 



214 VITAL STATISTICS. 

within twelve 'months after birth, amounted to 22.73 per 
cent. In Carlisle, the average mortality under five years, 
for a period of eight years, was 40 per cent. In Glasgow, 
in 1830, out of 4,694 deaths, 2,000 were under five years, or 
42.58 per cent. Similar returns from other populous 
towns might be introduced, but as the foregoing may be 
supposed to represent the average infant mortality of Eu- 
ropean cities, they are sufficient for our purpose. The 
average of the whole, makes the annual deaths under the 
age of five years, 42.24 per cent. Here is a waste of 
human life which humanity shudders to contemplate. But 
there is one circumstance which appears to relieve the 
darkness of the picture. This decrement of vitality is 
now less than in former periods, and is progressively di- 
minishing. 

Populous cities have justly been denominated the graves 
of mankind. It has been remarked in relation to several 
European cities, so great was the infant mortality, that 
the population was only sustained by immigration. But 
as the means of subsistence, general intelligence, and a 
knowledge of the conditions which are essential to animal 
existence have increased, many destructive influences have 
been removed, and others have been rendered compara- 
tively innoxious. There is but little doubt, that where 
insuperable natural causes unfriendly to life do not exist, 
cities may be so adapted to the necessities of the animal 
organization, as scarcely to diminish the probability of 
health and life in any degree. It is certain that the 
healthiness of European cities has greatly increased within 
a century, and the mean average duration of life prolong- 
ed. Dr. Hawkins says,* that the decline in the mortality 

* Vide Hawkins' Medical Statistics, passim. j 






VITAL STATISTICS. 215 

is even more remarkable in large cities than in rural dis- 
tricts. In London, for example, in the year 1647, the 
total deaths were about 21,000; whereas, a hundred 
years afterwards, in 1797, the amount was only 17,000. 
In the middle of the last century, the annual mortality in 
that city was about 1 in 20; and by the census of 
1821, it was abou 1, in 40. So that in the space of about 
seventy years, the chances of existence are exactly doubled 
in London. On the continent of Europe, we find that the 
duration of life has also increased, but in an inferior degree. 
In Paris, about the middle of the last century the mortality 
was about 1 in 25 ; at present it is about 1 in 32. In 
Sweden, the annual deaths from 1755 to 1795 were 1 in 
37 ; and in 1823 they had diminished to 1 in 48. The 
annual mortality in Berlin was 1 in 28 from 1747 to 1755 ; 
but less than 1 in 34 from 1816 to 1822. 

But whilst all statistical records show, that the average 
duration of human life has steadily augmented with the pro- 
gress of civilization,* still the improvement is most striking 

* One of the most interesting statistic views of the mortality of dif- 
ferent countries, is that in which the influence of the progress of civ- 
ilization is exhibited, by comparing the deaths to the population of 
the same country at intervals sufficiently long to admit of a decided 
social amelioration. The following summary exhibits the subject in 
a very striking manner. 

Iu Sweden, the mortality compared with the population has di- 
minished nearly l-3d in 61 years ; in Denmark 2-5ths in 66 years ; 
in Germany 2-5ths in 37 years; in Prussia l-3d in 106 years; in 
Wurtemberg 2-5ths in 73 years ; in Austria l-13th in 7 years ; in Hol- 
land 1-2 in 21 years; in England 4-5ths in 131 years; in Great Britain 
1-1 lth in 16 years ; in France 1-2 in 50 years ; in the canton of Vaud 
l-3d in 64 years; in Lombardy l-7th in 56 years ; Roman States, l-3d 
in 62 years. 

The principal towns in Europe present the same gradual dimi- 
nution, as might be shown by the proportions estimated for different 
epochs— but our limits will not permit. Vide Am. Journ. Med. 
.Science, Vol. XIV. p. 515. 



216 



VITAL STATISTICS. 



in regard to infancy. " In Geneva, tables of mortality have 
been kept since 1590, which show that a child born there 
has, at present, five times greater expectation of life than 
one born three centuries ago."* In other countries of 
Europe we have no returns extending through so long a 
series of years, and those furnished chiefly refer to adoles- 
cent and adult life; still the evidence is conclusive that 
the mortality has decreased in a far greater ratio amongst 
young children than adults. This might be shown at large 
of Paris, Manchester, Carlisle, Glasgow, and other popu- 
lous towns, where the attention both of physiologists and 
political economists has been attracted to the subject. 
But as correct conclusions are best attained by computations 
on an extensive scale, it may be sufficient here to submit 
a tabular statement, which exhibits the ratio of the dimi- 
nution in the mortality of infants in London during the last 
century. Figures do not always represent facts ; but the 
following table, compiled by T. R. Edmonds, Esq. is enti- 
tled, w T e are assured, to the fullest confidence. 

TABLE 

" Showing the births and deaths under five years of age, accord- 
ing to the London Bills of Mortality, for 100 years, in five 
periods of five years each ; also showing the number dying 
under five years out of 100 born." 



Total births, 

Total deaths 
under 5 years, 

Dying per cent, 
under 5 years, 


1730-49 
315,156 

235,087 


1750-69 
307.395 

195,094 


1770-89 
349,477 

180,058 
~~ 5L5 - 


1790-1809 
~386,393~ 

159,571 


1810-29 
477,910 

151,794 


74.5 


63.0 


41.5 


31.0 



Here then is indisputable proof that the diminution of 
infant mortality in London, during 100 years preceding 



* Hawkins' Medical Statistics. 



GENERAL INDUCTIONS. 217 

1829, was from 74.5 per cent, to 3 1.8 per cent. ; and the 
same general result with some modifications, is true, as we 
have seen, of the cities on the continent. M'Culloch says 
of the above table, the " results were obtained by an unex- 
ceptionable method ;" and referring to Carlisle statistical 
observations which relate to the decrease of infant deaths, 
he remarks: " If they approximately represent the mortality 
of England, the waste of life in the five years of infancy has 
almost diminished one half during the last hundred years ;" 
and adds, " other observations support this probability."* 
But not to enlarge on a position so clearly demonstrated, 
we learn from this brief review of foreign cities, 

First, that in them the average annual mortality of 
children under the age of five years, is about 42.24 per 
cent, of the total deaths. 

Second, that notwithstanding the poverty, wretched- 
ness and suffering of large masses of the population, there 
are still effective moral and physical causes in operation, 
which are gradually ameliorating their condition, protract- 
ing the duration of life, and greatly diminishing the aggre- 
gate of infantile diseases and mortality. We next recur 
to American cities. 

* MCulloch"s Statistics of the British Empire, Vol. IT. p. 524. 



19 



CHAPTER XXV. 

INFANT MORTALITY IN AMERICAN CITIES. 

Design of the preceding chapter. — Infant mortality in Boston. — Ta- 
bular view of infant deaths in Philadelphia. — Mortality of infants 
in New-York. — A principle established. — Inferences therefrom. 

- — Infant mortality, not chiefly owing to atmospherical influences. 
— Atmospherical salubrity in New-York, etc.— What is the cause 
of the excessive brevity of infant life in American cities'? 

The primary object in the cursory survey of some of the 
chief European towns presented in the preceding chapter, 
is too obvious to require much explication. It was to ob- 
tain materials of comparison with our American cities. 
Having these now at command, we propose to arrange by 
the side of each other the facts already adduced, and the 
statistics of a similar nature, derived from official records in 
our own cities. This condensed view will indicate at a 
glance the difference of infant mortality, if any exists, in 
the two countries. 

We begin with the city of Boston. The registration of 
interments in the burial grounds of that city, is intrust- 
ed to a superintendent, who keeps a faithful record of all 
the deaths in the city, specifying the ages, distinguishing 
the males from the females, etc., and a " General Abstract 
of the Bill of Mortality," is annually published. " Heavy 
penalties being imposed for burying without permission, it 
is presumed," says Mr. Shattuck, in his Vital Statistics of 
the city recently published, " that all, or very nearly all the 
deaths that have taken place in the city are recorded. And 
the bills, as far as they go, contain a faithful abstract of 



INFANT MORTALITY. 



219 



the records, and may be generally relied upon as cor- 
rect."* 

The following Table which is compiled from the print- 
ed documents, exhibits in an average of three different 
periods of time, including a series of 29 years, the amount 
of infant mortality in Boston, and the per centage as com- 
pared with the total deaths. 













w 


CO 

*3 to 


Years. 


m 

cs S 


P u 


CO 

V !3 

r-< CO 


nt two 
years. 


W 05 

■5 ^ 

CO 05 
05 > 


°3 i: 

05 CO 
O CD 




t3 a 


o= £ 


45 S 


05 W 


T3W 


etc 
















~c3 3 


^ to 
1-4 O 


& ^ 


£«3 


r3 u 

CO 05 


W 05 






IT'S 

ffl 5 






05 a 
a. s 


From 1811 to 1820 


8020 


1375 


832 


491 


2698 


33.64 


From 1S21 to 1830 


10731 


1962 


1220 


793 


3975 


37.04 


From 1831 to 1S39 


14483 


2861 


1781 


1598 


6240 


43.09 



Having ample materials, we exhibit a little more full 
the statistics of Philadelphia and New- York. The detail 
is important to our purpose, and can scarcely fail to be in- 
teresting. 

" The authenticity of the Philadelphia bills of mortality," 
Dr. Emerson remarks, " may be regarded as resting upon 
very solid grounds. From authority vested in the Board of 
Health, this municipal power makes it obligatory upon 
physicians to give certificates designating the name, age, 
and sex of all who died under their care, and sextons are 
bound, by still heavier penalties, not to permit the inter- 
ment of any dead body, until such certificate is obtained, 
which he returns on the last day of every week, for publi- 
cation.! The following Table might have been extended 
farther back a few years, with some variation of result ; 
but it appeared desirable to embrace a period correspond- 
ing in extent with the returns in New-York. 

* Am. Med. Journ. April, 1840, p. 274. t Med. Journ., Vol. I. p. 117. 



220 



VITAL STATISTICS. 

A TABLE, 



Exhibiting the total deaths in Philadelphia, and of children 
under the age of five years, including a period of twenty-five 
years, viz., from January 1st, 1814, to January 1st, 1840, 
The still-born are excluded. 



3 


g 5 

o aJ 


u 
<1) 
■a 
c • 

O o 


O) u 

C !i 
o » 

go 

te -■ 

- i 


O !h 


a 
11 


'1 H 

o „, 

O 4) 

0) c 

p- a 


1814 


2041 


390 


122 


104 


516 


25.28 


1815 


1943 


358 


116 


97 


571 


29.38 


1816 


2225 


338 


168 


171 


677 


30.42 


1817 


2107 


438 


138 


134 


710 


33 60 


1818 


2609 


472 


214 


118 


804 


30.81 


1819 


2979 


706 


334 


269 


1309 


43.98 


1820 


3189 


650 


307 


241 


1198 


37.56 


1821 


2161 


633 


215 


193 


1041 


48.19 


1822 


3334 


696 


243 


193 


1132 


33.95 


1823 


4372 


854 


401 


299 


1554 


35.52 


1824 


4284 


936 


384 


364 


1680 


39.72 


1825 


3539 


836 


250 


232 


1318 


37.21 


1826 


3845 


844 


380 


285 


1509 


39.27 


1827 


3659 


850 


293 


215 


1358 


38.75 


1828 


3971 


933 


395 


329 


1657 


41.83 


1829 


4001 


965 


364 


303 


1632 


40.78 


1830 


3948 


1003 


325 


260 


1588 


40.22 


1831 


* 












1832 


6699 


1521 


643 


689 


2853 


42.58 


1833 


4440 


1337 


375 


321 


2023 


45.56 


1834 


5073 


1578 


442 


385 


2405 


47.40 


1835 


5666 


1679 


655 


777 


3111 


54.72 


1836 


5373 


1496 


412 


308 


2416 


44.94 


1837 


* 












1838 


5168 


1384 






2552 


48.10 


1839 


4765 


1361 






2461 


51.83 



* The returns for these years could not readily be obtained; but 
the general result is not thereby affected. 



VITAL STATISTICS. 221 

The subjoined table of deaths in New-York is entitled, 
it is believed, to greater confidence, than most European 
tables of this nature, where the report of deaths is not re- 
quired to be made by medical practitioners. The existing 
regulation in that city requiring the sextons of the different 
public burying-grounds and cemeteries to furnish the 
city inspector with certificates from the attending physi- 
cian, stating the age, sex, place of nativity, disease, etc., 
of each case of interment, under a heavy penalty for ne- 
glect, the returns, of course, are minute and accurate. 



19* 



222 



VITAL STATISTICS. 

A TABULAR STATEMENT 



Of the total deaths in the city of New- York, and of children 
under five years of age, including a series of 27 years, viz., 
from January 1st, 1814, to January 1st, 1841, excluding the 
still-born, which average about 5.24 per cent, of the whole 
number of deaths. 





u £ 

es S ■d 

III 

C c X 


T3 
S 

O In 


eaths under 
ne year. 


a 

o 
Z o 

0J > 


-3 
O 

S . 
c | 
I a 


3 

o > 




r* 


r- = -■ 


m 2. 


P = 


cc S 


e* 


Eh« 


Ph = 


1814 


1881 


93 


407 


160 


132 


699 


32.14 


1815 


2405 


102 


468 


216 


194' 


878 


32.22 


1816 


2651 


88 


522 


178 


218 


918 


31.03 


1817 


2409 


118 


599 


208 


142 


949 


34.49 


1818 


3106 


159 


683 


234 


198 


1115 


37.02 


1819 


3008 


168 


847 


306 


188 


1341 


38.09 


1820 


3226 


189 


867 


361 


254 


1482 


38.87 


1821 


3368 


174 


825 


369 


261 


1455 


38.05 


1822 


3026 


205 


793 


264 


219 


1276 


35.42 


1823 


3221 


223 


899 


315 


230 


1444 


37.26 


1824 


4091 


250 


1072 


397 


389 


1858 


39.03 


1825 


4774 


244 


1109 


386 


300 


1795 


32.48 


1826 


4671 


302 


1232 


476 


350 


2058 


37.59 


1827 


4890 


291 


1336 


546 


389 


2271 


40.49 


1828 


4843 


338 


1427 


460 


339 


2276 


39.02 


1829 


4734 


360 


1390 


496 


465 


2351 


42.05 


1830 


5198 


339 


1547 


575 


517 


2639 


44.24 


1831 


5991 


372 


1757 


663 


592 


3012 


44.06 


1832 


9975 


3S4 


1922 


830 


965 


3717 


33.41 


1833 


5334 


392 


1724 


552 


468 


2744 


43.92 


1834 


8590 


492 


2603 


900 


861 


4364 


45.07 


1835 


6608 


474 


2176 


707 


732 


3615 


47.51 


1836 


7503 


506 


2332 


1014 


841 


4187 


49.06 


1837 


8182 


550 


1946 


1001 


961 


3908 


48 82 


1838 


7533 




2051 


983 


802 


3826 


50.90 


1839 


7361 




1968 


976 


752 


3696 


50.21 


1840 


7868 




1959 


1006 


1011 


3976 


50.02 



VITAL STATISTICS. 223 

The foregoing tables, it will be observed, though vary- 
ing a little in results, essentially agree in establishing a 
principle. Two particulars stand out with startling promi- 
nence. First, the enormous extent of infantile mortality. 
Second, the no less alarming fact, its steady increase. 
Here is a destruction of infant life, probably without a par- 
allel in any civilized or barbarous community on earth. 
In two cities, New 7 -York and Philadelphia, more than one 

HALF THE TOTAL DEATHS OCCUR UNDER THE AGE OF FIVE YEARS ; 

and in the third city, Boston, where the mortality is least, 
it is still greater than the average in Europe. 

It is both an appalling and an anomalous fact, that ex- 
cessive as is the mortality, it is continually augmenting. 
We have shown that during the last hundred years, the 
diminution of infant deaths in London, has been from 74.5 
per cent., to 31.8 per cent., and that the same principle is 
true of other cities in Europe. But in our American 
cities, as far back as satisfactory data can be obtained, 
there has been an increase of infant mortality in nearly the 
inverse ratio of its diminution in Europe. Results so op- 
posite cannot proceed from homogeneous causes. In 
Europe the favorable change is with great probability as- 
cribed to a more rational treatment of disease, and to the 
increased intelligence and improved condition of the people. 
But is the reverse true in this country 1 No informed 
mind will venture to affirm that it is. Our cities, in 
these respects, have not retrograded. On the contrary, in 
all that pertains to viability and economical influences they 
have progressed ; and in several particular and general 
causes, which operate favorably on public health, they 
must be admitted to be in advance, not only of London, 
but of most other populous cities in the world. Such be- 
ing the facts, by a parity of reasoning, a higher standard 



224 ATMOSPHERICAL INFLUENCES. 

of infant health, and a proportional diminution of deaths 
amongst them, might be confidently expected. But the 
tables demonstrate the fallacy of such inductions. Infan- 
tile mortality is greater amongst us than in Paris, where 
so many causes which are unknown here combine to des- 
troy early life ; it is eight per cent, above Glasgow ; ten 
per cent, above Carlisle, and nearly thirteen per cent, 
greater than in London. It is, in short, so far as we are 
able to ascertain, greater than in any of the populous towns 
in Europe. Whether, therefore, we understand it or not, 
a cause for this extraordinary disparity exists, which opera- 
ting in harmony with certain and unalterable laws, has for 
a series of years been geometrically progressing. What, 
then, is the cause of this excessive and increasing mor- 
tality 1 

Were we competent to the investigation ex prqfesso, it 
would be inconsistent with the limited plan and design of 
this work, to enter upon a minute inquiry into the various 
causes which influence health and diminish or increase 
mortality. W T e, therefore, remark generally, that it can- 
not be justly'ascribed solely to atmospherical influences, or to 
any peculiar insalubrity of climate ; for the mean duration 
of human life, as shown by statistical computations, is 
greater in our American cities, than in the cities of Europe. 
The annual proportion of deaths to the population in 

London,* are 1 in 35 Philadelphia! 1 in 47.86 

Glasgow 1 in 44 Boston 1 in 41.26 

Manchester 1 in 44 New-York 1 in 37.83 

Paris 1 in 32 



3)126.95 

4)155 42.31 

38.75 

* T. R. Edmonds, Lancet, Sept. 1836. 

t Average of 14 years. American Medical Journ. Vol. I. p. 151. 



ATMOSPHERICAL INFLUENCES. 



225 



Here is a demonstration that the American cities have 
an advantage on the scale of longevity of 3.56 per 
cent. 

Is it objected that these results refer to the total deaths, 
and therefore afford no just criterion of the effects of cli- 
mate on the infant constitution ? In answer, we quote 
Prof. C. A. Lee, of New-York. " In proof of the general 
healthiness of this city (New-York), we would refer to 
the statistics of that most excellent institution, the House 
of Refuge for the Reformation of Juvenile Delinquents. 
This was founded in 1824 ; since which time there have 
been received into the institution 1670 children, of whom 
eighteen only have died, being a fraction over one per 
cent. Out of 919 children who have been received at the 
New-York Orphan Asylum since its establishment in 1806, 
there have been seventy-five deaths, of which eighteen oc- 
curred in the year 1834, making a total of 8.16 per cent, 
and deducting the deaths by cholera, 6 per cent, of the 
whole number. From 1814 to 1820 it is a singular fact 
that there was not a single death in the institution, though 
there were generally over a hundred inmates ; and in 1832, 
during my attendance, there was but a single death among 
120 children, of whom there were not more than ten that 
escaped an attack of cholera, thus proving that the most 
malignant diseases lose much of their fatality when met 
with prompt treatment and good nursing."* It is, there- 
fore, leaping at a conclusion which is contradicted by facts, 
to refer the excess of infant mortality amongst us above 
what occurs in European cities to climate ; for indepen- 
dent of the above considerations, if climate was the cause, 
then must its salubrity have been deteriorating for the last 

* Lee's Medical Statistics, Am. Med. Jour. Vol. XIX. p. 27. 



226 ATMOSPHERICAL INFLUENCES. 

quarter of a century in the ratio of the increase of infant 
deaths — a position no one, we suppose, will undertake to 
defend. 

Neither can it be ascribed to the physical or moral 
condition of the population. In regard to healthiness of 
situation, construction, etc., as well as atmospherical salu- 
brity, the cities of New-York, Philadelphia and Boston, will 
not suffer by comparison with those referred to, nor per- 
haps with any of equal size on earth. In some par- 
ticulars affecting the general health, such as the drainage 
of marshes, the widening of streets, better regulations for 
the removal of impurities, etc., these cities have not only 
been greatly improved, but as is shown by the official re- 
turns, and contrary to what the increasing infant mortality 
would indicate, the standard of health is higher than for- 
merly, and the total annual deaths, according to the popu- 
lation, have ratably diminished. The waste of infant life in 
European cities, where so many causes conspire to produce 
it, is not a strange, but a natural result. The agents in 
the work of destruction, are too palpable to be mistaken. 
The extreme poverty which there exists, must give rise to 
numerous fatal diseases, and make direful havoc of infant 
life. But in this country the same causes do not exist, at 
least not in the same form, or to a very limited degree. 
Not only do the necessaries but also the comforts of life 
here abound, and are within the reach of all. Besides, 
the provident intelligence of the people, the social, civil, 
and economical advantages enjoyed, are decidedly greater 
than in the densely crowded manufacturing towns of the 
old world, where large masses of the people are condemn- 
ed to wear out their lives in fruitless struggles to amelio- 
rate their wretchedness. In addition to this, intemperance 
in the consumption of intoxicating drinks has greatly di- 



BREVITY OF INFANT LIFE. 227 

minished amongst us, and, as the criminal statistics prove, 
with a proportionate decrease of the pauperism and vice, 
which are so generally the proximate causes of improvi- 
dence, disease, and premature death. 

The question again returns : "What is the cause of this 
excessive infant mortality, and of the difference which in 
this respect exists between American and European cities ? 
The alarming fact that more than half the total deaths 
occur among children who perish in their infancy, is one 
which not only concerns the medical profession, but also 
every parent and philanthropist, and political economist ; 
for if this frightful mortality is allowed to go on unchecked 
and increasing as for a few years past, the time is not dis- 
tant when it will be a rare occurrence for a child born in 
our cities to survive the period of infant life. If the evil 
be unavoidable where large masses of people are crowd- 
ed together, exertions to diminish it must prove unsuccess- 
ful, and it were a folly either to attempt impossibilities, or 
to complain of that which cannot be removed. But such 
is not the fact. Our records prove, that the present was 
not always the condition of our cities in this respect ; 
while foreign statistics show, that the increase of this mor- 
tality, and the extent to which it now prevails amongst us 
is "peculiar to our own country, and therefore not insepa- 
rable from the conditions of city life. No exertions there- 
fore should be spared to discover, if possible, the cause or 
causes of this fatality, and the means which are competent 
to their removal. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

INFLUENCE OF IMPURE MILK ON THE HEALTH OF CHILDREN IN 
CITIES. 

Effects of immigration on the bills of mortality. — Immigrants in for- 
eign cities. — Objections anticipated. — Excessive infant mortality 
chiefly owing to improper aliment. — Impure milk such aliment. — 
Objection considered. — Origin and progress of the evil. — Influ- 
ence of other causes.— Extent of the evil. — Early extinction of in- 
fant life in cities not a design of Providence. — Certificate of phy- 
sicians. — Duty in reference to the subject. 

The extreme brevity of infant life has not escaped the 
observation of medical men, who have expressed various 
opinions upon the subject. Several concur in attributing 
it chiefly to the immense immigration of poor foreigners, 
who land in our cities destitute even of the necessaries of 
life, and being crowded together in narrow streets and im- 
perfectly ventilated houses, engender diseases which prove 
fatal to infant existence. That the accumulation of for- 
eigners (hitherto chiefly Irish) in our cities under these 
unfavorable circumstances, has greatly contributed to aug- 
ment the aggregate of the annual deaths, none will dispute. 
Owing to the destitution, but more to the intemperate and 
consequently improvident and reckless habits of this class 
of population, it has been estimated that the average du- 
ration of life among adults after their arrival in this coun- 
try, has not exceeded five years. But for this fatality 
among adults, it is evident, that the proportion of infant 
deaths, as compared with the total mortality, would be 
still greater than it now appears. Conceding, however, 



EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION. 229 

all that can be fairly claimed on the score of immigration, 
it presents, we apprehend, an insufficient reason for the ex- 
tent and increase of infant deaths amongst us ; for the con- 
dition of the British cities to which we have referred, in 
regard to this class of population is as bad, if not more de- 
plorable than our own, whilst the proportion of infant 
mortality is greatly against us. 

The three principal ports through which immigrants en- 
ter Britian, are Bristol, Liverpool, and Glasgow. Liverpool, 
with a population of 185,000, is computed to contain 30,000 
Irish ; the population of Glasgow is 202,426, of whom 
35,554 are Irish. In Manchester, Leeds, and many other 
manufacturing towns, the Irish, it is said, are proportion- 
ally numerous. Dr. Symonds, speaking of their circum- 
stances on immigration, says, " we frequently found in 
Bristol a family of five or six adventurers, with one thread- 
bare blanket between them. It is a common circumstance 
for a house to be tenanted by five or six families. We 
have found thirteen men, women, and children, living pro- 
miscuously in one garret of no very large dimensions. On 
one occasion, it happened to us to discover that thirty indi- 
viduals had, on one night, slept in a room, the measure- 
ment of which did not exceed twenty-five by sixteen feet. 
The people thus congregated were Irish."* Dr. Walker, 
physician to the Huddersfiejd Infirmary observes : " The 
most irksome part of our duty is the visiting the vast num- 
ber of Irish domiciled in the numerous lodging-houses; 
where we are never without some, and usually a large 
number of typhus cases. Last year it was very fatal. Two 
Catholic priests have fallen victims to it from attending 
these lodging-houses. We have now about forty or fifty 

* Trans, of the Prov. Med. and Surg. Assoc, Vol. II. pp. 167, 
168. 

20 



230 EFFECTS OF IMMIGRATION. 

cases of typhus among the Irish, most of whom require visit- 
ing. I have now been in the constant habit of giving 
gratuitous attendance to the out-patients of our charity for 
nearly a quarter of a century, and though it has fallen to 
my lot to see as many disgusting spectacles among the 
abodes of disease and poverty as any other man can have 
done, yet the present loathsome condition of our Irish 
lodging-houses, surpasses any thing I have seen or read of 
in England."* Similar descriptions might be quoted 
of the Irish immigrants in London,f Glasgow,! anc ^ other 
places ; but enough has been given to show that, wretch- 
ed and pitiable as is their condition sometimes in our coun- 
try, it is incomparably worse in Britain ; of course, there 
must be other agencies in operation amongst us besides the 
influence of immigrants, to produce the evils under consid- 
eration. 

But it would be as inconsistent with our limits as irrele- 
vant to our object, to dwell upon or even to enumerate the 
diversity and contrariety of opinions which have been ex- 
pressed by some physicians upon this subject ; it is only 
necessary to refer to a few of the most prevalent, to show 
their unphilosophical and inconclusive character. 

Says one, " more luxury and effeminacy in both sexes 
prevail now than formerly ; and may have had some influ- 
ence in producing constitutional debility, and the conse- 
quent feeble health of children." If this were true, and it 
is not important to question it, the first effects of " luxury" 
would be felt on the immediate subjects of it, and even- 
tually be manifested in the decreased average duration of 
adult life ; but official records show that this has improved, 

* Medical Annual 1838, p. 85. 

t Vide Fourth Rep. of the Poor Law Commissioners, p. 78. 

$ Vital Statistics of Glasgow, by Dr. Cowan. 



OBJECTIONS ANTICIPATED. 231 

while the reverse is true of infant life. Besides, we can- 
not suppose that these deteriorating influences are greater 
here than among a corresponding class in Europe, which 
is the only circumstance in a comparative view that gives 
it a bearing on the subject. A second informs us, " that it 
must be ascribed chiefly if not solely to vitiated air, conse- 
quent upon filthy and badly located dwellings." But is 
the condition of our cities, in these respects, either worse 
than formerly, or worse than European cities 1 Both these 
positions are contradicted by facts, and the conclusion must 
be rejected. A third says, that " scarlet fever, inflamma- 
tory diseases, convulsions, etc., have increased in preva- 
lence and fatality amongst children, which will account 
for the increased mortality." It is a lamentable truth that 
these diseases have become more numerous and fatal than 
formerly, as is shown on the face of the bills of mortality. 
But as diseases are merely consequences of something an- 
terior to themselves, it is manifest, that the bare announce- 
ment of their existence, which neither explains their origin 
nor the reasons of their growing prevalence and fatality, 
must leave us as ignorant as before of antecedent causes, 
and of the means that may be employed for their re- 
moval. 

But we cannot dwell on particulars. It may be sum- 
marily remarked, that the causes referred to, and numerous 
Others, doubtless tend to destroy infant life both in this 
country and in Europe ; but as they are common to both 
sides of the Atlantic in probably corresponding degrees, it 
is evident that they are inadequate either singly or com- 
bined to produce the results and the circumstances connected 
with them, as manifested in the growing and excessive waste 
of infant life in our American cities. The cause which is 
adequate to these results must be endemic. In other words, 



232 cause or 

it must be peculiar to our cities, if not in its na.ure, yet in 
the modifications or degrees of its influence. What cause 
then is there which possesses these peculiar properties and 
characteristics ? We answer, improper aliment ! This is 
all-sufficient of itself, and the only cause that can be named 
which is alone fitted for this baleful work. Other morbid 
causes are local, partial, and limited in their influence; 
but food need only be improper and unhealthy, to destroy 
all the infants in any community. Now such an aliment 
is the impure milk with which our cities are deluged, whose 
destructive effects on health and life are indisputable. 

But are not European cities afflicted with bad milk and 
its consequences 1 We have proof that such is the fact, but 
no evidence that it prevails to the same fatal extent as in 
this country ;* and the difference, other things being equal, 
will account not only for the disparity we have seen in the 
death of infants, but will also solve the otherwise unex- 
plained, and perhaps inexplicable phenomena, the gradual 
increase of infant mortality amongst us for the last quarter 
of a century, whilst there has been a decrease in Europe. 

Previous to the late war with England, impure milk, 
or at least, milk produced from the dregs of the distilleries, 
appears to have been almost unknown in our cities. But 

* Gaskellsays: " The staple diet of the manufacturing population 
in England, is potatoes and wheaten bread washed down with tea or 
coffee. Milk is but Utile used." (Gaskell on the Man. Pop. of Eng. 
p. 109.) The same writer elsewhere estimates (p. 142.) that a fami- 
ly of five persons of the same class, expend 3d. per week for milk, — 
that is, allowing but one quart of milk in seven days. But this pro- 
bably is a vague opinion, and much less than is generally used. Be 
that as it may, it falls far below the average consumption of milk, for 
example, in New-York, where probably there are few families, how- 
ever humble their condition, who do not use at least one quart daily, 
whilst those in easier circumstances, consume twice and thrice that 
quantity. 



INFANT MORTALITY. 233 

that event cutting off the supply of spirituous liquors from 
the British West Indies, a demand was created for the pro- 
ducts of domestic distillation. Hence grain distilleries, as 
is well known, sprang up in our cities as well as in the 
country, about the year 1814, which led to the use of the 
refuse for milch cows, as a substitute for natural food, and 
consequently to the confinement of cows in pens. With 
the rapid growth of population in our cities, there was a 
proportionate demand for milk, whilst the pasturage for 
cattle decreased with the progress of improvements. W T hat 
was at first a matter of experiment or convenience, became 
with some an object, if not of imagined necessity, of choice ; 
for it was found, as elsewhere shown, that this kind of sus- 
tenance would produce more milk at less cost than any 
other. But with these inducements for the use of slops, 
there were numbers of dairymen who at first rejected them, 
and others who used them sparingly with other food ; so 
it was not until late years that the use became general and 
exclusive, and the evils of the system, in their full extent 
and enormity, were inflicted upon the people. Here then 
we are enabled to follow the destroyer by the print of his 
footsteps. From small and almost imperceptible begin- 
nings, we trace the gradual developments of this iniquitous 
system ; sometimes accelerated, and again checked and 
modified and influenced by adverse or favorable circum- 
stances, as indicated by the bills of mortality ; yet, on the 
whole, steadily gaining strength and extension, until it has 
become the enormous curse and scourge we now be- 
hold it. 

Let it again be distinctly understood that, in allowing 
to the noxious milk system the pre-eminence it claims as 
the only manifested cause that is by its own peculiar 
agency competent to the results developed, we do not 

20* 



234 MAGNITUDE OF THE EVIL. 

thereby detract from, or in any degree underrate the inju- 
rious effects of the other co-operating morbid influences, 
which, even in the best regulated cities, are in ceaseless ac- 
tivity to depress vitality and destroy life. All we affirm of 
impure milk is, that it is one of the grand sources and pre- 
disposing causes of disease in our cities, especially among 
young children, and is competent, we judge, to produce 
the evils ascribed to it. To say less than this, would be 
to misrepresent our own convictions, reject the testimony 
of facts, and withhold assent to some of the plainest phy- 
siological principles. 

No one, on surveying the magnitude of this evil, will 
conclude that its influence is exaggerated. In the cities of 
New-York and Brooklyn, nearly five millions of gallons of 
this milk is annually consumed, and probably in Boston* and 
Philadelphia, in nearly the same relative proportion. In 
the two former cities there are more than twenty-five thou- 
sand children under five years of age ; and this pernicious 
milk, which is only fit for the kennels, constitutes their 
principal, and in numerous cases their only food. When 
the support of infant life is converted into a source of disease 
and death, is it surprising that they perish by thousands 1 

There are many well-disposed persons, who are accus- 
tomed to ascribe this terrific waste of infant life to inevi- 

* Though this statement in regard to Boston may require some 
qualification, it is not of a kind that affects the general conclusion. 
Brewers' grains and other improper food, and not slop, are there used 
for dairy cows ; and the milk thus produced, as we have elsewhere 
shown, having the acid property which is common to distillery-slop 
milk, is unhealthy and should be rejected. The most that can be 
said in favor of brewer's grains as food for milch cows is, that it is 
comparatively less pernicious than slop. And strikingly coincident 
with this fact, is the relative infant mortality in Boston compared 
withthe other American cities mentioned, as will be seen by referring 
to the tables. 



NOT PREDETERMINED. 235 

table and fatal necessity, irrespective of the observance or 
neglect of those secondary causes, through which Provi- 
dence invariably fulfils its designs. But can such be the 
purpose of the benevolent Creator 1 Is so large a number 
of His rational offspring born with such feeble powers of 
vitality that life necessarily becomes extinct on the thres- 
hold of existence ? Such conclusions, being inconsistent 
with the teachings of his Word and Providence, must be 
rejected as impious and absurd. If this mortality was the 
appointment of a Divine decree independent of any agen- 
cies under human control, then might we become indifferent 
and fold our arms in inactivity, for any exertions of ours 
to prevent it would prove as unavailing as our regrets. 
But how are these views reconciled with the increase of in- 
fant deaths amongst us from 32 per cent, to 50 per cent, in 
the course of a few years, whilst in foreign cities, for the 
same period, the results are reversed ? Of the secret sour- 
ces of life we are necessarily ignorant, but not of the ex- 
ternal circumstances connected with it. It is not more cer- 
tain that the Deity acts in accordance with His own esta- 
blished and unvarying laws, than that their fulfilment or 
neglect by his creatures, will be followed by corresponding 
results. Hence the duty of endeavoring to understand our 
own relations to the world around us in order to adapt our 
conduct to the principles of organic existence. We may 
not in every instance be able to trace with precision the 
connection of cause and effect ; but we may not doubt that 
the sweeping mortality of infants amongst us is, to a great 
extent, the consequence of our ignorance or recklessness of 
the laws of life. Being still in pupilage as it respects phy- 
siological science, we are incompetent to trace out with 
distinctness and specify all the causes that are inimical to 
existence, or to determine how largely the deteriorated qua- 



236 OTHER TESTIMONY. 

lity of milk of which chi]dren so generally and freely par- 
take may contribute to this melancholy result. But as this 
is one of the most frequent, though least suspected of the 
perversions of the laws ol health amongst us, analogy, ex- 
perience and observation, the testimony of facts, and also 
the testimony of our most eminent medical n en, fully jus- 
tify the conclusion that its influences are not exaggerated, 
and that it should be classed among the most fruitful causes 
of suffering, disease, and death. 

Some persons may conclude that the foregoing argu- 
ments and illustrations, have already been extended to 
greater length than the establishment of the main positions 
required. Such individuals decide correctly for themselves ; 
but there are others who may demand an obvious, yet very 
different description of evidence from any that has been 
advanced. For however indisputable and conclusive may 
be the language of facts, common observation and expe- 
rience on the subject, yet, from its nature, the demonstration 
might appear incomplete to some minds without the testi- 
mony of medical men. This testimony is accordingly given 
by intelligent and experienced physicians, who, enjoying 
opportunities beyond any other class of men for an accu- 
rate knowledge of the facts whereof they affirm, have fear- 
lessly staked their reputation as men of truth and science 
on the correctness of their conclusions, and published them 
to the world. 

In relation to the subjoined certificate, it may be pro- 
per to remark, that it was given at the solicitation of the 
author, without a view to its present use, and appeared in 
the New-York papers about three years ago. Every phy- 
sician called upon for the purpose, excepting one who de- 
clined on the ground of his ignorance of the subject, 
promptly gave it the sanction of his mame. After present- 



CERTIFICATE OF PHYSICIANS. 237 

ing testimony of this kind to the good sense and philan- 
thropic feelings of humane and intelligent men, it must be 
left to them to say whether they will continue to patronize 
a system so inimical to their dearest interests, and which 
the guardians of the public health so unsparingly condemn. 

CERTIFICATE OF PHYSICIANS ON THE PERNICIOUS PROPERTIES 
OF SLOP-MILK. 

The undersigned, Physicians of the city of New- York, 
being requested to express our opinion in relation to the 
milk of cows fed chiefly on distillery slop, have no hesita- 
tion in stating that they believe such milk to be extremely 
detrimental to the health, especially of young children, as 
it not only contains too little nutriment for the purposes 
of food, but appears to possess unhealthy and injurious pro- 
perties, owing in part, probably, to the confinement of the 
cows and the bad air which they consequently have to 
breathe, as well as the unnatural and pernicious nature of 
the slop on which they are fed. 

John Stearns, Sen., M. D. John W. Francis, M. D. 

James C. Bliss, M. D. Thomas D. Boyd, M. D. 

John Torrey, M. D. Charles A. Lee, M. D. 

C. Ticknor, M. D. James Stewart, M. D. 

Jno. Neilson, M. D. Ja's A. Washington, M. D. 

J. Vanderbergh, M. D. D. Atkins, M. D. 

A. D. Clement, M. D. Ab'm. L. Cox, M. D. 

Albert Smith, M. D. Wm. P. Buel, M. D. 

E. R. Belcher, M. D. John Davis, M. D. 

George Leo Wolf, M. D. David M. Reese, M. D. 
G. Forrester Barstow, M. D. A. Sidney Doane, M. D. 

Thomas Cock,* M. D. E. Mead, M. D. 

* Believing also that the air of stables should be particularly at- 
tended to. 



238 



INDIVIDUAL DUTY. 



Henry G. Dunnel, M. D. 
J. Van Rensselaer, M. D 
Benjamin Drake, M. D. 
John S. Conger, M. D. 
Wra. Channing, M. D. 
N. W. Condict, M. D. 
Alex. J. Watson, M. D. Surg 
J. L. Milledoler, M. D. 
J. S. Oatman, M. D. 
James R. Wood, M. D. 
G. S. Janeway, M. D. 
Ebenezer Storer, M. D. 
James L. Phelps, M. D. 
J. Miller, M. D. 
A. Gerald Hull, M. D. 
Wm. A. Walters, M. D. 
Gilbert A. Smith, M. D. 



Alvan G. Smith, M. D. 
C. R. Bogert, M. D. 
Alonzo S. Ball, M. D. 
M. W. Williams, M. D. 
P. Van Arsdale, M. D. 
Alex. Clinton, M. D. 
. Richard Pennell, M. D. 
Nicholl H. Dering, M. D. 
A. C. Churchhill, M. D. 
F. A. Cadwell, M. D. 
Henry E. Bartlett, M. D. 
William Power, M. D. 
Wm. N. Blakeman, M. D. 
David Seaman, M. D. 
J. H. Borrowe, M. D. 
S. R. Kirby, M. D. 
John B. Beck, M. D. 



Has not the time fully come, in which milk that is pro- 
duced from distillery slop and all other improper food, should 
share the fate of diseased flesh, putrid fish, and other un- 
wholesome aliments, and be thrown into our rivers ? Let 
every householder, and especially every parent who would 
not sport with the health and lives of his children, see to it 
that the deleterious slush is banished from his table. So 
miserable an apology for a healthy and nutritious article of 
diet might be tolerated in a barbarous nation where infanti- 
cide is permitted, but here, it should not be endured. Let 
each individual feel his share of responsibility in removing 
so great an evil ; and all unitedly endeavor to turn away 
the severe but justly merited reproach, which this awful 
mortality of children so justly casts upon the habits of a 
Christian community. 



INDIVIDUAL DUTY. 239 

This chapter cannot perhaps be better concluded, than 
in the words of an English medical author, who is conver- 
sant with the subject and well acquainted in this country. 
Referring, in a letter to the writer, to the London milk dai- 
rymen, he says : " They force the milch cows with swill 
so that they literally become drunkards, and send the milk 
to rear our children, as you do in New-York, — thus sow- 
ing the seed of disease in the cradle, and poisoning the foun- 
tain of life at its source." 



CHAPTER XXVII 



INCIDENTAL TESTIMONY. 



Letter from a friend. — Case of sickness occasioned by slop-milk, and 
recovery — A similar case in the author's family. — Effects of im- 
pure milk on a cat. — Fatal effects of slop milk in a family of chil- 
dren. — Cutaneous eruptions occasioned by its use. — Reasons for in- 
troducing certain descriptions. — A disgusting incident. — Filthiness 
of slop-men. — Death of cattle. 

But for the fear of exceeding the limits assigned to 
this work, we would proceed to state some of the numer- 
ous cases that have come under our own observation, in 
which the health of children has been irrecoverably de- 
stroyed by the use of impure milk. But their place will 
be better supplied by the narrations of others, which we 
cannot well omit, who from humane and philanthropic 
considerations have addressed the writer upon the subject. 
The following is an extract of a letter from a personal 
friend of the author of great respectability, whom name is 
suppressed, because his sanction for its use, in consequence 
of his absence from the country, could not be seasonably 
obtained. 

Dear Sir : 

Having carefully read your communications on " Milk 
Dairies and Distilleries," I have felt both surprise and re- 
gret that the attention of our citizens had not been called 
before to so important a subject. Whatever concerns 
health and morals, should deeply interest us all ; and I 
think that you have clearly shown that both, to the extent 



SLOP-MILK SICKNESS. 241 

the system is patronized, will suffer by it. But my object 
is to state very briefly a few facts on the use of impure 
milk, corroborative of the views you have expressed, as 
they occurred in my own family, with the hope that others 
may be benefitted by my experience. 

" A fine healthy child, aged about ten months, was, on 
account of his mother's health, taken from her ; and his 
diet, prepared by the direction of a physician, was cow's 
milk, and the precaution observed, to use the milk of one 
dairy. But the health of the child presently began to fail, 
and in defiance of the most tender and assiduous care, con- 
tinued to do so for many months. Medical skill did not 
avail to restore his health, or even to alleviate his suffer- 
ings ; at length, his wasted and diseased condition de- 
stroyed all hope of saving his life. At this time, your first 
articles on impure milk appeared, and fearing that the 
milk on which my child was fed might have some influence 
on his health, I was determined to ascertain its quality, and 
was grieved to learn that it was produced from distillery 
slush. On acquainting a physician with the circumstance, 
the milk diet was continued, but by his advice was obtained 
from a dairy kept on natural food. The advantages of the 
change were almost immediately perceptible. But though 
life was saved, and health mended apace, disease was 
probably too firmly seated in the constitution to be ever 
removed.. He still lives, and may be spared many years j 
but his health, compared with my other children, is feeble. 
He is often sick, and through life will doubtless suffer the 
consequences of early pernicious diet. 

" I would not attach undue importance to a single fact, 
unsustained by other evidence. But subsequent observa- 
tion has convinced me that I did not misjudge in the case 
of my child. Other cases very similar have come to my 

21 



242 SLOP-MILK SICKNESS. 

knowledge; and I cannot doubt that the same cause ia 
now destroying the lives of great numbers of children in 
this city." 

A case strikingly coincident with the foregoing, having 
occurred in the author's family, its introduction may serve 
as another instructive illustration of the permanent injury 
done to the infant constitution by improper aliment, when 
the effects are not immediately fatal. "With allowance for 
unimportant circumstances, the case will doubtless be re- 
cognized as a prototype of a multitude of others, which 
are constantly occurring in families who are as ignorant 
of the sources of suffering and premature decay, as of the 
means for their alleviation. 

The child, at the age of nine months, appeared well- 
constitutioned, plump and healthy. But the delicacy of 
the mother's health rendered it improper, and, indeed, 
perilous both to herself and infant, to discharge the duties 
of a nurse ; and as no suitable person was found to whom 
the maternal office could be safely intrusted, she would not 
resign the management to another, but with her own 
hands supplied the best substitute for her milk that could 
be obtained. Cow's milk was chosen as most nearly re- 
sembling the nourishment designed by nature, and prefer- 
able to arrow-root, panada, weak broths, or any artificial 
preparation of farinaceous or animal substances. The 
choice of fluid diet, moreover, was indicated by the condi- 
tion of the system. The incisor or cutting teeth having 
just made their appearance, the jaws were unprovided with 
the means of masticating more solid aliment. In order to 
make the milk more like that to which it had been accus- 
tomed, it was used in a tepid state, and at first slightly 
diluted with water, and sweetened. These particulars are 
stated to show that all was done for the child which de- 



SLOP-MILK SICKNESS. 243 

voted affection could bestow, or professional skill sug- 
gest. 

But the effect of the new regimen was presently visi- 
ble in the altered condition of the child. The first out- 
ward indication of illness was a remarkable change in the 
temper. He had before appeared gentle, contented, and 
happy; now he was irritable, restless, and unmanageable — 
sleep disturbed and fitful, and seldom tranquil when out of 
the arms. The eyes were sunken, and his appearance un- 
naturally pale and haggard ; he lost strength and vivacity ; 
gradually fell away in flesh ; so that at the age of fifteen 
months, his weak and emaciated body would scarcely sus- 
tain itself without bolstering. Medical aid was in con- 
stant requisition, but without avail. He continued to sink 
day by day ; and it appeared certain that his death would 
soon be included among the hundreds of cases of " Maras- 
mus or Emaciation," among children, which so frightfully 
augment the annual bills of mortality. 

It now first occurred to the writer that there might be 
something peculiar in the milk which occasioned the dis- 
ease, or at least, unfavorably affected the child's health ; 
and on inquiry, he was neither surprised nor alarmed to 
learn that the milk was produced from the refuse of a 
whisky distillery at Williamsburg ; for, up to that period, 
it is believed that the deadly properties of slop-milk were 
not even suspected. The discovery, however, of this fact, 
determined him, if possible, to procure milk which was 
produced from natural food, and this with considerable dif- 
ficulty was obtained. The effect of this diet was most 
manifest on the infant's health. Without any change of 
external circumstances or condition, excepting the substi- 
tution of one kind of milk for another, there was a sudden 
and most remarkable improvement in his general health. 



244 SLOP-MILK SICKNESS. 

This case is not narrated because it is more extraordi- 
nary than others, but merely as an exemplification of a 
numerous class that have subsequently come under the 
writer's observation, and continue to be of frequent occur- 
rence, whilst, with regard to most of them, there is unfor- 
tunately too little knowledge of the cause of disease to pre- 
vent a fatal result. But for the use of healthy instead of 
unhealthy food, to human appearance the child would 
have inevitably perished — not the victim of a Divine de- 
cree, but of human ignorance ; not because there were no 
conditions on which life could be saved, but because those 
very conditions which a benevolent Providence has immu- 
tably established for the preservation of the species, and 
on the observance of which life to its utmost limits ordi- 
narily depends, were violated. Surely, in a very important 
and responsible sense, the lives of infants are placed in the 
hands of their natural protectors ! 

His life was spared and he still lives ; but is more frail 
and sickly than any other member of the family. His con- 
stitution, originally good, is so enfeebled that the growth 
of the body is stinted ; and although the oldest of four bro- 
thers, his weight and stature is less than either; and to 
the close of existence will probably suffer the consequences 
of early mismanagement. 

The pernicious properties of slop-milk are farther illus- 
trated by the following experiment made by Mr. Joseph 
Depew, of New- York, who has authorized its publication 
in connection with his name. 

" The young of the domestic cat, being of a class of 
quadrupeds which, like the human infant, is nourished with 
milk, and hearing that the milk of cows fed on distillery 
slop was unhealthy, I determined to witness for myself its 
effects on one of these animals. With this view, I fed a 



USE OF SLOP-MILK FATAL. 245 

young cat slop-milk for five successive weeks ; in which 
time it sickened, lost its playfulness, the hair fell off, and 
it became extremely weak and emaciated ; I believe, if 
this food had been longer continued, the cat would have 
died. I then changed the slop-milk for pure country milk, 
and fed the animal five weeks as before ; when it gradually 
gained strength, activity, and sprightliness ; the hair came 
on anew ; and in that short time nearly doubled its pre- 
vious weight. 

" Permit me to state another case which came under 
my observation. A friend and neighbor lost two fine chil- 
dren, who after being weaned sickened and died at about 
the same age. No suspicions were entertained of the 
cause of their sickness and ultimate death. His third child, 
after being weaned also began to droop and sicken in like 
manner. It was now, on the inquiry of a friend, brought 
to the recollection of the bereaved parents, that their de- 
ceased child had been fed on the milk of a distillery dairy; 
and as the same kind of milk was the principal food of the 
sick surviving child, it was suggested that this might have 
occasioned the death of their children, and that pure coun- 
try milk, be immediately obtained. This was done ; the 
child recovered, and is now alive and healthy." 

Mr. John Golder, another citizen of New York, attests 
from personal knowledge to the following facts: — The 
privilege of occupying a certain corner as a milk stand, 
was granted to a slop-dairyman, on the condition that he 
should supply the family of the owner with milk. After using 
the milk for some time, the gentleman and his family were 
most unaccountably afflicted with eruptions of the skin, 
sores, and general indisposition. Various conjectures were 
indulged as to the origin of the strange disease, when at 
length it was referred to the quality of the milk. And 

21* 



246 FACTS MUST BE STATED. 

such, on careful investigation, appeared to be the fact ; for 
on abstaining from the milk, the family speedily recovered, 
and the obnoxious milk concern was driven from the 
premises. 

In the progress of the work, it has often occurred to 
the author that he should apologize for the introduction of 
certain facts and descriptions which have already been 
given, and may occasionally appear in subsequent chap- 
ters. He would willingly have passed them in silence, if 
compatible with a faithful exhibition of the flagrant evils 
it is his object to portray and remove. But this being 
impossible, he has not hitherto, neither does he now feel at 
liberty to omit, any particulars that are essential to a cor- 
rect knowledge of the subject under consideration. The 
train of miseries arising out of the existing mismanage- 
ment of the dairies, may be expected to continue so long 
as the present ignorance of the cause prevails ; we, conse- 
quently, cannot hope for their removal, except as public 
sentiment in regard to their origin shall be informed and 
corrected. To suppress any facts, therefore, that are ne- 
cessary to this important result, would be to sacrifice the 
well-being of multitudes to false notions of delicacy, a course 
which our own sense of duty unqualifiedly disapproves, 
and w^hich, we have no doubt, every humane and well- 
regulated mind would at once condemn. These remarks 
should, perhaps, have appeared in another place, but they 
here happen to be made, as suggested by the subjoined 
letter, from a very respectable gentleman of New- York, 
which they may serve to introduce. 

« Dear Sir :— 

"I do not pretend to be familiar with all the enormi- 
ties of the slop milk business; but w r ere our citizens as 



A DISGUSTING INCIDENT. 247 

well acquainted with it as myself, I think it would be im- 
possible for them to extend to it their support. It is not 
my design to give a detail of the facts connected with the 
system which have come under my observation ; but if a 
few particulars will subserve the reform you have so much 
at heart, they are at your disposal. 

" To gratify the curiosity of a friend from the country 
who some time since visited me, I accompanied him to one 
of the large slop-dairies in the vicinity of the city. As we 
approached a range of cow stables, an open window in- 
duced us to draw near to it, when, unobserved ourselves, 
we saw a man inside milking one of the cows, whose bag 
was evidently diseased and extremely sore. After atten- 
tively noticing it, for a few minutes, we discovered that 
one side of the bag and one teat were very much swollen, 
and that the bag on the swollen side had recently been 
lanced and was in a most offensive state of suppuration. 
But the dairyman, unwilling to lose the milk, was care- 
fully stripping three of the teats, whilst at every pressure 
of the fingers, bloody and yellow corrupt matter was forced 
from the wound, ran trickling down over the back of his 
hands, and mingled with the mess of milk in the pail, 
which was doubtless afterwards sold and eaten by his cus- 
tomers. All this, I affirm, I saw for myself in the presence 
of my friend. And think you, sir, was not this enough to 
spoil my relish for slop-milk ? From that time I was done 
with it, and the whole concern where such abominations 
could be practised, for ever. I may be told that this is a 
rare and strong case. This I admit, and am induced to 
mention it on that account, because the attention of others 
may thereby be drawn to consider a system which under 
the very best regulations is too bad to be tolerated. I was 
careful, however, not to mention what I had seen in my 



248 FILTHY MANAGEMENT. 

family, lest the bare recollection of it should ever after 
create an unconquerable aversion to all milk. I confess 
my own disgust was so deeply fixed, I was afraid to trust 
any dairy ; and I only became reconciled to the use of milk 
by keeping a cow for the supply of my family. 

" The cow stables, you know, are indescribably filthy, 
and so is every thing pertaining to the milk management 
The milk room is in the midst of the steam and effluvium 
of the pens, and scarcely a whit purer, which is sufficient 
of itself to taint and spoil the best milk. "What better could 
be expected when the whole is intrusted to the care of 
men whose services can be cheapest obtained, and who 
being ignorant of thrift of that kind, have not an idea of 
what is meant by cleanliness ? They will use their milk- 
strainer for a dish-cloth, and then slap it up against the 
stable-door to dry. At other times, they will gather a 
handful of straw from the stable-floor, and whisk it around 
a pail or other vessel, and set it aside for use. These 
are literal facts. 

" Not long since, I saw in a lot two cows which had 
been dragged out of the stables, and a number of men 
around them, as if endeavoring to do something for their 
relief. Observing the men trying to raise one of the ani- 
mals up, I inquired what ailed her, and was informed that 
she had the 'foot sore;' and sore enough thev appeared 
to be. The hoofs were curved upwards several inches 
like a sleigh-runner ; and they have a method of cutting 
them, so as to help the animal to maintain a standing pos- 
ture. But this animal was too far gone to be relieved in 
any way; for when raised on her feet, she could not stand 
with the aid of four men. There was an involuntary tre- 
mor of the muscles of the legs, and every indication of 
severe pain. The other cow was, if possible, in a still 



DEATH OF CATTLE. 249 

worse condition. There was the frame of what had been 
a noble animal; nearly emaciated to skin and bones, and 
though covered with flies, too weak to shake her ears. 
The animal, by its moans, appearing to be in great agony, 
I begged they would have the humanity at once to end her 
sufferings. Whether this was done, I cannot tell. But re- 
turning at night, I saw that the carcass had been devour- 
ed by swine, on the spot where the cow probably had died. 

" You know these slop-men are careful to dispose of 
their cows after the confinement of a few months in the 
pens, lest they die on their hands. But so insidious some- 
times are the ravages of fatal diseases, that in spite of their 
precaution, the loss in this way must be very considerable. 
I have observed in passing a certain slop-dairy, six cows 
cast out to die in the space of one week ; and the number 
of those I did not see, might have been far greater. But 
facts of this kind are so well known, it probably is not im- 
portant to dwell upon them. 

" In conclusion, I only remark, there is nothing else tol- 
erated by public sentiment, that is more execrable in itself, 
and mischievous in its effects, than the distillery slop-milk 
business." 

Facts of the foregoing description, from persons of un- 
impeachable veracity, could be almost indefinitely multi- 
plied ; but interesting and useful as they might prove, our 
limits require that they yield a place for professional testi- 
mony. The reader's particular attention is requested to 
the communications addressed to the author in the next 
chapter, by a much esteemed personal friend, whose stand- 
ing as an experienced and intelligent physician, entitles his 
opinion on the subject to the highest respect ; also to the 
views exhibited in the third letter, which are the result of 
much patient thought and careful investigation. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

LETTERS FROM CHARLES A. LEE, M. B. LATE PROFESSOR OF 
MATERIA MEDICA IN THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW-YORK, ETC. 

Opportunities for observation. — Appearance of children fed on slop- 
milk. — Profits of slop feeding. — Value of the slop dairy to the dis- 
tiller. — Description of slop-milk. — Difficulty of obtaining pure milk 
for children. — Health of children destroyed by impure milk. — In- 
fluence of food on the quality of milk. — Letter II. — Prefatory re- 
marks. — Effects of slop on the health of cattle. — Influence of slop- 
milk on health. — Fatal effects of it, with diagnosis of case. — Ma- 
rasmus arising from innutritious diet. — Duty of municipal autho- 
rities in relation to the evil. — Letter III, from Mr. John Burdell, 
Dentist.— A drawing of a child's jaw with explanations. — Teeth, 
the indexes of the constitution. — How affected by impure milk. — 
Early injury to the teeth never repaired.— Teeth of the present 
generation inferior to those of the preceding. — Effects of slop-milk 
not limited to infants. — Incidental considerations. — Process of nu- 
trition. — Phosphate of lime in pure milk. — Teeth and bones formed 
therefrom. — Beauty of this arrangement. 

Letter I. 
Dear Sir : — 

I embrace the earliest opportunity to give you, accord- 
ing to request, the results of my experience in relation to 
the influence of " still-slop-milk " upon children, and also 
as to its general effects as an article of diet. 

I have now been a practitioner of medicine in this city 
upwards of fifteen years, and my opportunities of observing 
the agency of different causes upon the public health, have 
been rather extensive. For several years I was employed 
as a dispensary physician among the poor, and annually 



SLOP-MILK DIET. 251 

treated more than two thousand patients with different dis- 
eases. The result of my experience and observation is, 
that the chief cause of the excessive mortality among chil- 
dren in cities, above that in the country, is owing to the 
nature of their diet. There are many parts of the country, 
where the water is much worse than in this city, and yet 
the health of the inhabitants does not seem to suffer. Good 
air is doubtless essential to rugged health, but the children 
of our wealthy citizens, who are supplied with suitable and 
nourishing diet, are not so often afflicted or carried off by 
those diseases, so prevalent and fatal among the poor. 

Children who are fed with " still-slop milk," have a 
pale cachectic appearance, are extremely subject to scro- 
fula, and are sure to take every epidemic disease prevalent 
To scarlet fever, measles, hooping-cough, they are par- 
ticularly subject, and will take them upon the slightest ex- 
posure. Such children are also very apt to sink under any 
serious disease, with which they may be attacked. There 
is a laxity of the solids and a vitiated condition of the fluids, 
which predispose them to disease in its most malignant 
form. If, for example, they are seized with scarlet fever, 
it will either be in the highly congestive form, which is 
almost certain to prove fatal ; or it will be attended with 
that gangrenous or phagedenic ulceration about the throat, 
which is perhaps equally dangerous. And so of other dis- 
eases. There can be no doubt that this arises chiefly from 
a vitiated condition of the whole system occasioned by im- 
proper diet ; and of this diet, " still slop milk," forms an 
important part. 

You may have noticed that at all times of the year, on 
certain corners of our streets there are boys who take their 
stand every morning for the sale of milk. They generally 
furnish it at four cents a quart, and sometimes at three cents, 



252 PROFITS OF SLOP FEEDING. 

and this is a great inducement for the poor to buy ; in- 
stead of paying six cents for pure milk. This milk is 
mostly supplied by distillers, who keep cows on their pre- 
mises, and to save the trouble of peddling it round dispose 
of it in this way. Now as it costs but about nine cents a 
day to keep a cow upon swill, and as cows in general give 
about ten quarts of milk a day, you can readily see that 
they can afford to sell it at that low price. Those who 
feed nothing but meal, grain, and hay to their cows, tell 
me that it costs from two shillings to two and sixpence a 
day to keep a cow. Of course their profits are smaller 
even when they sell at eight cents, than to sell the still- 
slop at four cents. Now I believe that our board of health 
could not do a better act than to prohibit the sale of slop- 
milk. They certainly have the power ; and by exercising 
it, they would do far more good, than by stopping the sale 
of tainted meat. 

Another thing. Were it not for the use of still-slop 
milk, our distilleries would most of them have to stop. As 
it is, they have to suspend operations when the price of 
grain is high ; and at times they are in the habit of diluting 
their slops by adding more than half water, in order to save 
themselves from loss by the low price of whisky. I have 
been often told by milkmen, that occasionally slops are so 
thin and meager, that a peck of Indian meal disseminated 
in a hogshead of water, would contain more nutriment than 
the same quantity of swill. Indeed, it was this very im- 
position which induced several milkmen to stop feeding it 
to their cows. 

There is another circumstance worthy of notice. Still- 
slop- milk is of a pale bluish color, and when cows are fed 
with it almost exclusively, as they are at the distilleries, it 
is necessary to color the milk in order to make it marketa- 



PURE MILK IMPORTANT. 253 

ble. This is actually p'actised ty all such milk dealers. 
Starch-flour, plaster of Paris, etc., are used for this pur- 
pose. This enables them to give it a rich and beautiful 
white color, and to dilute it with about an equal quantity 
of water. This may be called one of the " tricks of the 
trade " and of course it is thought nothing of by men 
whose consciences are not troubled by turning the " staff 
of life " into poison. 

But to return. When called to visit a sick child, my 
first inquiry always is, what is the usual diet ? Do you 
give milk to your children 1 Who is your milkman ? These 
are usually my first questions ; for the answers always fur- 
nish more or less clue to the proper treatment. It is a rare 
thing, I believe, in this city, for a judicious physician to 
allow a child to be brought up by the bottle, without par- 
ticularly directing the kind of milk to be used, and how it 
is to be prepared. I have for a long time been convinced 
that it is far better and safer to use barley or rice and water, 
or arrow-root, and other farinaceous substances, than to 
allow any milk at all, — for such has been the difficulty of 
getting good milk, that there was always more or less 
danger of imposition. From late inquiries, however, I 
believe these difficulties are in a fair way to be removed. 

I could give you any number of cases where the health 
of children has been utterly destroyed by the use of still- 
slop milk ; and I could convince you that the cholera in- 
fantum itself, the great scourge of our city, is in fact caused 
chiefly by the use of this milk, either by the mother or 
child ; for it is a singular fact, that in the large cities of 
Europe, where other causes of disease, with the exception 
of this, are as prevalent as in New-York, this disease is 
absolutely unknown. Hence the efficacy of a removal to 

22 



254 PURE MILK IMPORTANT. 

the country ; as a change of diet is the necessary conse- 
quence. 

The importance of good milk, will appear from a few 
considerations. Pure milk contains in it the basis of all 
nutriment, i. e. it is composed of an albuminous, a saccha- 
rine, and an oily principle, and no substance is nutritious 
that does not contain one of these. These are combined 
in milk in different proportions, according to the nature of 
the food on which the animal subsists. This was known 
even to the ancients ; for Galen states that he endeavored 
to make milk more astringent, by placing the animal which 
was to furnish it in pasturage enriched for the purpose, with 
agrostis, lotus, and other astringent vegetables ; and as the 
patient became convalescent, and could bear a richer nu- 
triment, he was allowed to sail down the Tiber and use the 
milk of Stubiae, which was celebrated for its excellence. 
I was much struck lately by a fact related by Dr. Dungli- 
son in his Elements of Hygiene, which has a bearing on 
this subject. He states that " in a certain part of Virginia, 
where he resided, the hogs are fattened chiefly from the 
refuse of the stills after the distillation of whisky; or to 
use the expression of the farmers, they are 'still-fed.' The 
inferiority of the meat when thus forced, compared with 
the result of feeding them upon corn, and allowing them 
to roam abroad and obtain their food from acorns and ches- 
nuts, in the woods, he says, is universally admitted." 

But I deem it unnecessary to multiply facts on the sub- 
ject ; enough I trust has been said to convince any reason- 
able mind of the truth in relation to the matter. It only 
remains for those who are convinced to act accordingly. 
With much respect, your friend, 

Charles A. Lee. 



SLOP FEEDING. 255 

Letter II. 
Dear Sir : 

When I addressed you my last letter on the subject of 
milk, I supposed that your able and praiseworthy efforts, 
had nearly satisfied the reading public of the innutritious 
and unhealthy properties of this article when obtained from 
cows fed on distillery slop, and confined in filthy and ill- 
ventilated stables. If, in addition to whatjou have urged, the 
testimony of sixtyjof the most respectable physicians of this 
city is not sufficient to settle the question, it is not at all 
likely that any thing I can write, will have the least effect. 
As the subject, however, is attracting a good deal of atten- 
tion both in this and other cities, at your request I proceed 
to add some further considerations, which, it seems to me, 
should lead people to pause before they use this poisoned 
article of diet, and I am the more inclined to this, as, in 
my last, I alluded to several points which want of time com- 
pelled me to pass over with a single remark. 

On inquiry I find that cows fed on distillery slop, be- 
come so much diseased in consequence, that they are always 
killed off in the falFand winter, to furnish our citizens with 
healthy beef, and a new set obtained every spring from the 
country. However improbable this may seem, on inquiry 
it can very easily be ascertained that it is a fact. Their 
teeth, you are aware, also become so much diseased, that it 
is impossible to feed them on any thing but fluids ; and 
hence probably the reason why some of our milkmen, who 
have lately become convinced of the unhealthy quality of 
slop-milk, do not resort to feeding grain ; for they will tell 
you in justification of their conduct, that " their cows can- 
not eat grain." This, you see, is a direct acknowledg- 
ment of the truth you are endeavoring to establish, viz. 
the unhealthiness of still slop-milk ; for it is self-evident, if 



256 SLOP-MILK POISONOUS. 

the cow is diseased, her secretions must also be. Our citi- 
zens will do well to bear in mind this fact, that cows be- 
come so diseased in one season, by the use of still-slop diet, 
as to be ever after of no use for the dairy; but have to be 
slaughtered to furnish us with meat for the winter. In this 
way, several thousand cows are annually slaughtered for 
our market. 

The principal point of inquiry, however, is : What effect 
does the milk of cows fed on distillery slop actually have 
on the health 1 This I endeavored to answer in part, in 
my last, though I am aware, but very imperfectly. Since 
then, however, I have seen and conversed with many of 
our oldest and most respectable physicians on the subject, 
and I find they agree with me entirely in opinion. They 
consider, as I do, that it is owing to unhealthy diet chiefly, 
that so many die during the first few years of life ; and 
that it is owing to the same cause, that the prevalent 
diseases of the season, whether they be bowel complaints, 
scarlet fever, hooping-cough, measles, or any thing else, 
derive their chief mortality. They believe that still-slop 
milk is poisonous in its effects, undermining gradually the 
constitution, and laying the foundation for a large majority 
of all cases of marasmus, decay, atrophy, convulsions, and 
bowel complaints generally. In this way do they account 
for the great excess of deaths by these diseases in the city 
over those in the country ; and they also argue with 
me that it is a legitimate subject of investigation for the 
Board of Health of our city, and then, if the facts warrant, 
to take measures accordingly. They believe that all the 
damaged flour, meat, vegetables and fish sold in our mar- 
ket, do not occasion one-tenth part of the injury to the com- 
munity, that diseased milk does. And they therefore think 
that a milk inspector would be quite as useful an officer, 



POST MORTEM EXAMINATION. 257 

and far more necessary to guard the citizens from imposi- 
tion, than a flour inspector, a pork and beef inspector, or 
even a tobacco inspector. In all these cases a man's own 
senses tell him whether the article be good and genuine ; 
in the other case, he can rarely judge correctly whether the 
milk be pure or adulterated, healthy or diseased. It is true, 
we sometimes do see still-slop milk strained through the 
sick," cribb'd, cabin'd and confined" animal's glands with 
such rapidity, that we can smell and taste the identical slop 
still reeking and fermenting from the infernal distillery ; 
but in general, it is so colored, mixed, medicated and pre- 
pared, that it is well calculated to deceive the unsuspecting 
observer. 

Not long since I attended a poor boy about six years 
of age, who had literally been brought up on still-slop milk. 
His parents, who are poor, kept a few cows in the upper 
part of the city, which they fed upon slop, and by selling 
their milk, thus gained their support. The boy was always 
pale and sickly, had a rickety, bloated appearance, 
and, with sunken eyes and haggard expression of coun- 
tenance, reminded one always of a little premature old man. 
About a year before his death he began to fall away in 
flesh; grew weak and irritable; had little appetite, and so 
languished along till he died. As his case was in some 
respects interesting, I asked and obtained leave for a post 
mortem examination. The first thing that struck my atten- 
tion as remarkable, was, the almost entire absence of blood 
from the system. The muscles were pale, flabby, and 
almost dwindled away to nothing ; the blood-vessels about 
the heart, which are generally loaded with blood, were col- 
lapsed and empty ; and the heart itself was soft and hyper- 
trophied. The principal marks of disease, however, were 
in the mesenteric glands. These, you know T , are near the 

22* 



258 CAUSE OF MARASMUS, ETC. 

origin and in the track of the chyliferous vessels, through 
which all the nutriment that is absorbed has to pass, in 
its passage to the thoracic duct, which empties it into 
the blood. These glands were most extensively diseased, 
more than ten times their usual size, and many of them in 
a high state of inflammation. Of course, I was immediately 
led to impute their morbid condition to the nature of the 
food on which the child had chiefly subsisted from the time 
almost of his birth ; for in fact, there was no other mani- 
fested cause to which it could be attributed. This account- 
ed for his gradual emaciation, want of strength, the im- 
poverished state of the fluids, and for death itself. 

But this is not an isolated case. During the last year 
our city inspector reported tivo hundred and ninety-two 
deaths of marasmus and emaciation, — the same disease as 
above, 202 of which were under two years of age. Our 
best medical writers consider this disease as generally ari- 
sing from innutritious diet. " The blood," Dr. Mason 
Good observes, " becomes innutritious from scarcity or 
pravity of food, or an insufficient supply of nutriment is 
introduced into the blood by the chylific organs, or not suf- 
ficiently separated from it by the assimilating. In infants 
it is often advisable to change the nurse's milk. It is not 
easy to detect all the peculiarities of milk that may ren- 
der it incapable of affording full nutrition. I have often 
advised a change of milk, and found a wonderful improve- 
ment on its being followed." 

Our sympathies have often been appealed to in behalf 
of Hindoo children, who have been exposed upon the 
waters of the Ganges, or left suspended in baskets to the 
limbs of trees, to perish of hunger, or be devoured by the 
birds. But here is occasion enough for sympathy for our 
own offspring. Here we may, on a more stupendous scale, 



DUTY OF MAGISTRATES. 259 

behold " the death of the innocents ;" hecatombs of whom 
are yearly sacrificed to appease the remorseless god Mam- 
mon — actually immolated on the altar of Plutus, that their 
expiring breath may fan the Tartarean flames of the distil- 
lery. Let these flames be quenched, as they long ago should 
have been, by the strong arm of the law, and a small por- 
tion of the 2,000,000 bushels of grain now annually convert- 
ed by them into poison in this city, be fed to those ani- 
mals that furnish food for our little ones, while the remain- 
ing part will supply our population with bread-stuff. Let 
our legislators bring about this reform, and they will de- 
serve a higher reward than the oaken coronal, which was 
placed on the brows of him who had saved the life of a 
single Roman citizen. They will deserve and receive the 
heartfelt gratitude of a rejoicing people, and their names 
shall be handed down to the latest, posterity, emblazoned 
on the list of illustrious public benefactors. 

It is indeed high time for the guardians of the public 
health to rouse from their lethargy, and imitate the vigilant 
foresight of the Roman consuls, " viderunt ne quid detri- 
menti respublica caperet." Let them assiduously watch 
those causes of disease which it is in their power to remove, 
and then remove them with the same zeal and energy they 
would resist a fire or a flood, or a band of hostile savages ; 
and then they will have earned for themselves the proud 
title of watchful conservators of the public weal. 

With respect, yours, 

Charles A. Lee. 



260 



CHILDREN S TEETH. 



Letter III. 
The following letter is from Mr. John Burdell, Dentist, 
New-York, Author of a " Treatise on the Structure, Phys- 
iology and Anatomy of the Teeth," etc. 

Dear Sir : 

You are aware, that my views on the use of distillery 
slop-milk are already before the public ; but if I can state 
any additional particulars which may tend to throw light 
on this important subject, I will rejoice in the opportunity 
of placing them at your disposal. 

Any knowledge I may possess in relation to the inquiry, 
has been incidentally derived from a careful observation of 
the effects of different kinds of diet on the animal system 
generally ; but more especially the influence of diet on the 
nervous tissues in connection with the formation of the teeth, 
— to which study my attention has been directed, by my 
professional pursuits. In order to convey a clear idea of 
what I mean by the formation of the teeth, I send you 
a drawing prepared by myself to illustrate the subject. 




(This plate exhibits the jaws of a child at the age of four years.) 



children's teeth. 261 

The drawing shows the number and the arrangement 
of the infant or first teeth, and their nervous connection 
with the brain and spinal marrow or nervous system. There 
are twenty teeth in the first set, but in the plate, half only 
are visible as we have a side view, five above and five below, 
and a part of the two front teeth on the other side. 

The pulps or rudiments of the second or permanent 
teeth, can be seen directly under the roots of the first set. 
These rudiments have nerves, blood-vessels and absorbents, 
which are readily traced by dissection. When these pulps 
commence ossifying or hardening, they crowd against the 
absorbents of the first teeth, and stimulate those vessels to 
such a degree that the roots of the infant teeth are taken up 
by the absorbing vessels, and disappear as fast as the per- 
manent or adult teeth advance. This makes the shedding 
teeth, as they are commonly called, when they fall out, to 
have the appearance of being broken at the root. 

The white thread-like filaments attached to the roots of 
the teeth, are intended to represent the nerves which sup- 
ply them with the vital or life-giving principle. There is 
one to each root. 

The teeth being thus a part of the system, they neces- 
sarily partake of the nourishment received into it ; and 
being formed at the time when the child's diet is princi- 
pally milk, the importance of having it pure and nourish- 
ing, will at once be admitted. If it is either deficient in 
nutriment or possesses deleterious properties, the teeth in 
common with the other organs of the body must suffer. 
Hence the teeth may be regarded as the indexes of the 
constitution. We find, indeed, that children who have been 
fed upon this or other insufficient or improper food, if they 
survive the period of infancy, have enfeebled constitutions, 
their teeth prematurely decay, and are so soft they may 



262 TEETH AND BONES INJURED. 

be cut with a dentist's instrument j whereas the teeth of chil- 
dren who have been properly nourished, and whose consti- 
tutions are sound and firm, possess almost a diamond-like 
hardness. In view of these facts, can any one conclude 
that impure and innutritious slop-milk is a proper diet for 
children 1 

It is evidently owing to the want of information on the 
subject, that this great evil has been so long endured. This 
milk is produced from the most unhealthy and disgusting- 
materials ; and no parent, I should judge, with a knowledge 
of its nature, would risk the health and life of his children 
on such aliment. The diseased condition of the animals, 
and the unnatural and filthy manner in which they are kept, 
are alone sufficient to convince the reflecting mind, that 
their secretions must be unhealthy. 

It is an important consideration, that so far as the teeth 
are concerned, the injury done them, by feeding children on 
bad milk, is one which can never be repaired. The teeth 
having received their organization during infancy, unlike 
any other part of the osseous system, later years have no 
effect in producing a favorable change. It is well known, 
that a broken bone, if properly replaced, will again unite ; 
but the parts of a fractured tooth will never adhere. The 
bones of children enlarge and grow firmer and harder until 
the period of adult life, which shows that a constant change 
is going forward in the system. But the teeth, retaining 
their original texture and form, are in these respects un- 
affected by the lapse of years. 

There are rational grounds for the opinion, that the 
teeth of the former generation in cities, in regard to firm- 
ness, hardness and durability, were better than those of the 
present and of the rising generation. The increase of 
dentists would appear to sustain this conclusion. Now it 



HEALTH OF ADULTS INJURED. 263 

is known that the production and consequent consumption 
of slop-milk, has from small beginnings increased until it 
has become a great and grievous evil. I do not say that 
the present condition of these necessary organs, the teeth, 
are to be attributed solely to the effects of this kind of 
aliment. But it doubtless has had great influence, and hav- 
ing discovered one cause which is competent to this result, 
let us not rest until it is banished from the community. 
Considerations of philanthropy, but especially the welfare 
of those most dear to us, who are the greatest sufferers, and 
whose tender years exclude the possibility of their rescuing 
themselves, should enlist all our sympathies, and employ all 
our energies in their behalf. 

In conclusion, I remark, that the mischief is not con- 
fined to infants, but injures the health of all who partake of 
it. This is proved by its effects on the milkmen themselves, 
for whilst the majority of them are too wise to eat it, there 
are others who use it freely. The latter, often suffer from 
biles, eruptions and running sores, which may be considered 
as the outlets to the impurities of the blood occasioned by the 
pernicious qualities of the milk. This is probably an ef- 
fort of nature to expel the morbid humors from the system ; 
and fortunate it is for these slop-milk drinkers that it is gen- 
erally successful ; as without these discharges, distressing 
and even dangerous and fatal maladies might be expected. 
I am acquainted with one of these men, who has a tumor 
of the size of a tea-cup, which discharges from a spoonful 
to half a gill at regular intervals. I would recommend to 
such persons who persist in the use of this impure milk, to 
have an issue kept open on some convenient part of the 
body as a vent for the'impurities generated in the system, 
and as a preventive to the fatal results which otherwise may 
ensue. With great respect, your friend, 

John Burdell. 



264 PROCESS OF NUTRITION. 

The preceding letter suggests a few incidental conside- 
rations, with which we close the chapter. 

In nothing, perhaps, is the design of Providence more 
remarkable, than in the adaptation of milk to the wants 
of the infant system. It contains, as has before been 
shown, albumen, oil, and sugar, which are the primary 
staminal principles of all alimentary substances. These 
substances are found to be identical with the elements of 
which the texture of the body is composed. Milk, of 
course, is capable of assuming a great variety of modifi- 
cations, in order to form fibrin or flesh, and build up the 
various tissues of the system. When it is received into its 
proper receptacle, it is first changed into chyme, and then 
into chyle ; and is next taken up by the absorbent vessels 
and thrown into the blood, which conducts the nourishment 
it has received through an infinitude of minute tubes and 
channels to all parts of the body, each of which takes 
from the blood that kind and quantity of nourishment it 
needs for its own support, and also for the support of that 
part of the body which is committed to its care. Dr. Ed- 
wards familiarly illustrates the process of nutrition as fol- 
lows. " The organs placed at the ends of the fingers, take 
out what is needed to make finger nails ; while they will 
cautiously abstain from, or repel that which will only go 
to make hair, and let it go to the head. And the organs 
on the head, carefully take out that which they need for 
their support, and also that which will make hair, or, in 
common language, cause the hair to grow ; while they 
will cautiously abstain from that which is good for nothing, 
except to make eye-balls, and let it go to the eyes, and will 
even help it on. And the organs about the eye, will take 
that and work it up into eyes, or cause them to grow. And 
so throughout the whole. And there is among all the 
millions and millions of these workers, the most delicate 



FORMATION OF TEETH AND EONES. 265 

and wonderful sympathy. If one member suffers, all the 
members instinctively suffer with it ; and if one member 
rejoices, all the members rejoice with it." 

But this is not all. Besides the muscular, the fleshy 
and the fibrous parts referred to, the growth and nourish- 
ment of other parts not less important are to be provided 
for, namely, the teeth, but especially the bones, which con- 
stitute the basis of the system. In order, therefore, to sup- 
ply the osseous matter so essential to young animals, pure 
milk contains a great quantity of the phosphate of lime ; 
and that the organs may be saved the labor of forming this 
proximate principle from its elements, the identical mate- 
rial of which the teeth and bones are formed exists ready 
prepared in a fluid state as a component part of the milk; 
and nothing more is requisite than for the appropriate or- 
gans to arrange it, as the exigencies of the system may re- 
quire. 

This admirable provision of nature for promoting the 
growth and repairing the waste of young animals, enables 
us to form some conception why children who are fed on 
impure or bad milk have feeble constitutions, and why their 
" teeth are so soft as to be cut with a dentist's instrument." 
Such food is depraved and innutritious. The elementary 
principle, namely, phosphate of lime, which is essential to 
the perfect organization of the teeth and bones, if it exists 
at all in such milk, it is most probably in such defective 
proportion, as to be incompatible with a different result. 
The foregoing facts, however, are merely referred to as a 
farther illustration of general principles ; and without dwell- 
ing upon them, we see how, by a beautiful arrangement of 
Providence, natural milk possesses all those peculiar ali- 
mentary properties in perfection, which exactly adapt it to 
the wants of the infant system, and is essential to its proper 

23 



266 FORMATION OF TEETH AND BONES. 

and healthy development. Antecedent to experience, there- 
fore, we might safely infer that not one of its constituents 
could be subtracted, without depriving it of a principle 
which is necessary to the well being of the young it was 
primarily intended to nourish. But when w T e discover that 
the inference is fully sustained by observation and expe- 
rience, as well as by induction, the principle appears no 
longer a questionable or speculative matter which we are 
at liberty to reject, but an important practical truth, that 
deeply concerns us individually to understand, and reduce 
to practice. In short, with whatever change of aspect 
the subject is viewed, it assumes new interest ; and what- 
ever new facts are elicited, augment its importance ; whilst 
every application of rational principles to the inquiry appears 
to give force and substantiality to the positions it is our object 
to establish. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

MILK SICKNESS. 

Preliminary observations.— First mention of milk-sickness.- Regions 
to which it is peculiar. — Confined to no season.— What animals 
subject to it.— Symptoms of the disease in brutes. — Symptoms of the 
disease in men. — Its virulence and fatality. — Cause of the disease. 
— Its locality circumscribed. — Investigations of its origin. — Differ- 
ent theories concerning it. — Nature of the poison. — Effects the flesh 
and vitiates all the secretions. — Experiments thereon. — Its fatality 
illustrated. — Some points of resemblance in the appearances and 
effects, common to diseased slop-fed cattle. — Probable cause of 
milk sickness. 

We have before mentioned the milk sickness, but in 
too concise a manner to convey any satisfactory informa- 
tion of the nature of this singular disease. As the topic 
comes legitimately within the design of this work, Ave would 
scarcely be excused in omitting to give a more particular 
account of it ; and this inference is strengthened by the 
consideration that what has been written on the subject, 
having chiefly appeared in medical journals to which few 
besides professional readers have access, a farther notice of 
it will be regarded, not only as in place, but highly desi- 
rable. The gratification, however, of a laudable curiosity, 
is not the only object in recurring to it. The subject will 
be observed to have a practical bearing on a leading posi- 
tion which we before have endeavored to establish, viz., 
that the milk and flesh of animals may be so deteri- 
orated, either by the pernicious nature of their food, or by 
the specific action of disease on the animal organization, as, 
when eaten by man, to induce disease and destroy life. So 



268 MILK SICKNEf-S. 

obvious a common sense principle might appear to require 
neither argument nor illustration, were it not for the habits 
of thousands around us, who, by daily partaking both of 
diseased milk and flesh, show they have yet to be convinced 
that there is danger in such practices. 

As the subject lies without the range of our personal 
research and inquiry, we designed to have condensed from 
various sources into a general view, what appeared most 
worthy of notice. But w r e are diverted from this purpose, 
by a recent and very able essay by Dr. Graff of Illinois, 
which, as it appears to contain all that is yet authentically 
known of this almost anomalous disease, w T etake pleasure 
in introducing it to the reader, with little modification, ex- 
cepting what is requisite to adapt it to the limits of this 
work.* 

Occurring as the milk sickness universally does in our 
frontier settlements, where medicine as a science is in its 
infancy, and its practice too much in the hands of the ig- 
norant, we have had very imperfect accounts of the affec- 
tion, either as it regards its history, symptoms, or means of 
cure. 

A few imperfect essays recorded in our medical jour- 
nals, constitute every thing that I have seen offered to the 
public on this subject. The earliest history of it that I 
have noticed, is mention made of a singular disease affect- 
ing cattle, by Bishop Kennipin, a French Missionary, who 
ascended the western rivers early in the last century. He 
knew of it only as causing the death of cattle with singular 
and often very fatal symptoms. 

The only name by which it is known, is that which I 
have used, which is quite objectionable, as it may serve to 

* See Am. Jour. Med. Science, April, 1841. 



MILK SICKNESS. 269 

convey an erroneous impression by the supposition that 
milk only could produce it ; whereas the flesh of an infect- 
ed animal acts with an equal degree of violence and ra- 
pidity. 

It is a disease peculiar to the United States, occurring 
seldom, if ever, to the eastward of the Alleghany moun- 
tains. It is in a greater or less degree met with in all the 
western states, as far south as the Mississippi, and extends 
north to the boundary. The states of Indiana and Illinois, 
are most subject to its occurrence, whilst its existence in 
the bordering states is comparatively rare. In the first for- 
mation of our western settlements, its prevalence often 
served as a cause to disband a community, and compel the 
inhabitants to seek a location which enjoyed immunity 
from its occurrence. Many of the otherwise most de- 
sirable portions of the country, remained long exempted 
from settlement, and even now the inhabitants of these lo- 
calities have, as a condition of their residence, entirely to 
abstain from the use of milk, its preparations, and the flesh 
of their cattle. 

Its occurrence or prevalence is confined to no season, 
or description of weather, existing in a like degree in the 
heat of summer or cold of winter, and with like virulence 
and frequency during a dry or wet season. 

The animals in which it has been observed, are cattle, 
horses, sheep, and goats, which seem to acquire it with their 
food or drink. 

We will first speak of the symptoms manifested in cat- 
tle affected with it, as it is only through them that we have 
yet found the disease communicated to man. This may be 
affected to such a degree as that their flesh and milk will 
produce the disease, and yet they themselves manifest no 
unhealthy symptoms whatever. This latent condition of the 

23* 



270 SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. 

disease may be discovered by subjecting the suspected ani- 
mal to a violent degree of exercise, when, according to the 
intensity of the existing cause, it will be seized with tre- 
mors, spasms, convulsions, or even death. This is a pre- 
caution practised by butchers in these countries, always be- 
fore slaughtering an animal in any wise suspected of the 
poisonous contamination. An ordinary degree of exertion 
will not develop these phenomena unless it produce the 
symptoms usually preceding a fatal termination. When 
for instance a cow is sufficiently deeply affected, nothing- 
peculiar is observed until immediately preceding the out- 
break of the fatal symptoms. She is then observed to 
walk about, without any apparent object in view ; all food 
is refused, and there is evidence of impaired vision. The 
eye is first of a fiery appearance, increasing to a deep red 
color, until the animal is observed to stagger and fall, 
when, if she rises, the trembling of the whole muscular sys- 
tem will prevent the maintenance of the standing position. 
The animal usually dies after repeated convulsions, never 
lingering beyond a few hours. Often it falls suddenly, as if it 
received a blow from a heavy body on the head, and death 
is produced in a few minutes. 

In man the symptoms differ from these, and are varied. 
The length of time found to elapse from the reception of 
the cause to the appearance of the disease, is dependent on 
a multiplicity of circumstances, as the age, sex, or condi- 
tion of the patient and violence of the poison. It may be 
developed as early as the third, or deferred until the tenth 
day. As a premonitory symptom, a peculiar and indes- 
cribable fcetor from the lungs is the most prominent, and 
so universally have I found it present and to precede the 
disease, that in almost every instance when I have been 
brought in proximity with a person predisposed or attacked, 



SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. 271 

have I been able to foretell its approach, and pronounce 
on the character of the disease. This fcetor can no more 
be mistaken by a person accustomed to it, than that which 
is so universally attendant on variola ; and it may in fact be 
safely stated to be pathognomonic of the forming and early 
stage of milk sickness. This halitus from the lungs, which 
I have never found entirely wanting even some days pre- 
vious to an attack, increases in intensity until the disease 
is fully developed, when it gradually disappears with the 
specific symptoms, and at the termination of four or five 
days cannot be detected. A person laboring under the 
peculiar effluvia from the air passages, in many cases com- 
plains of no illness, and appears entirely unconscious of his 
situation, unless advised of it by his friends or attendants. 

Often the symptoms are observed to differ widely from 
these. Besides the peculiar smell emitted, there is a pre- 
monition of the attack ; for some days previous to its de- 
velopment, the patient experiences a restlessness and un- 
easiness which he cannot describe ; there is a frequent 
moving about without any definite object in view, and he 
finds it impossible to confine his attention to any subject or 
employment. He feels, and often expresses a dread of 
some impending calamity; starts at the slightest noise; his 
temper is always irritable ; his lip is seen to quiver when 
he attempts to speak, and all his motions are characterized 
by nervousness and are quickly performed. This state grad- 
ually increases in severity; his ideas are much confused; he 
suffers greatly from a want of words to express his meaning, 
with every evidence of a deep and somewhat peculiar state 
of cerebral irritation. Added to these there is a severe pain 
in the head, attended with tinnitus aurium, suffusion of the 
eyes, and intolerance of light. Vomiting announces the 
onset of the attack. Some days frequently elapse before 



272 ITS FATALITY. 

pain in the stomach is complained of, but during the time 
the suffering is intolerable, consisting of a sensation of deep 
distress, which, though referred to the prsecordia, or abdo- 
men, the sufferer cannot locate in any particular spot. 
Pain in the limbs is complained of, and is severally referred 
to each of the extremities, but is more constantly located 
in the spine, particularly at the nape of the neck. The 
pulse, during the forming stage, possesses great force and 
volume, with slightly increased action. Upon the com- 
mencement of vomiting, it becomes greatly accelerated, is 
quick and frequent, and varies in different cases with the 
degree of inflammatory action existing, and the means of 
treatment employed. The bowels will remain obstinately 
constipated, the powers of nature being incompetent to re- 
lieve the condition, so that unless it be done by appropri- 
ate remedies, at the end of six or eight days an offensive 
discharge takes place, quickly followed by dissolution, the 
symptoms being those which would indicate disorganiza- 
tion of the structure of the intestines. 

When recovery ensues from severe cases of milk sick- 
ness, it is tedious, and years are often required to restore 
the patient to his wonted health and vigor. Indeed it has 
often been a question with many, whether those once se- 
verely attacked ever regain a perfect integrity of constitu- 
tion. In cases which terminate fatally (of which descrip- 
tion is a large majority), a length of time from one to four 
weeks is required, proportionate to the intensity of the pri- 
mary effects, the propriety of the treatment, and the natural 
powers of the resistance of the constitution, as they often 
seem to die from a wearing out, a gradual destruction of 
cerebral and nervous energy. 

Cause. — The cause of this disease of animals is as yet 
shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. No satisfactory ac- 



CAUSE OF THE DISEASE. 273 

count of its nature has yet been given, and it has in turn 
been supposed to be of vegetable, mineral, and even aeri- 
al origin. The limits of its prevalence is not often 
over a large and continuous tract of country, but rather 
circumscribed, and surrounded by localities never known 
to produce it. No example is known in which the prop- 
erty ot producing the disease has been acquired by any lo- 
cality which did not previously possess it. The bounda- 
ries which were at the first discovery of the country found 
to separate the infected from the healthy districts, remain 
unchanged. The locality which serves to produce the dis- 
ease, most commonly extends as a vein of variable breadth, 
traversing the country for a considerable distance. It can 
be traced in one instance for nearly a hundred miles, run- 
ning parallel to the course of the Wabash river, in the 
state of Indiana. 

Again, it will be found to occupy an isolated spot, 
comprised in an area of one hundred acres whilst, for a con- 
siderable distance around it is not produced. Thus having 
the locality perfectly circumscribed, much labor has been 
expended in order to discover some production peculiar to 
the locality. The search has been uniformly unsuccessful 
in the attainment of its object. The general appearance 
of these infected districts is somewhat peculiar. I have 
always observed that the situation of the ground is elevated 
above that of the surrounding country, occupying what is 
denominated a ridge, and that the quality of the soil is in 
general of an inferior description. The growth of timber is 
not observed to be so luxuriant as in situations otherwise 
similar, but is scrubby, and stunted in its perfect develop- 
ment. Throughout the entire district in which these local- 
ities are interspersed, there is observed an absence of the 
occurrence of stones scattered over the surface, whilst in 



274 CAUSE OF THE DISEASE. 

the infected districts, they are almost universally present. 
They are of small size and darkened aspect externally, 
breaking with a regular and shining fracture, and, upon 
analysis, imperfectly made, were found to contain a 
considerable portion of iron, with slight traces of copper. 
Another more decided and peculiar appearance, which serves 
to distinguish them from other spots, is the breaking forth 
of numerous feeble springs, furnishing a trifling supply of 
water, but not varying in quantity with the change of 
seasons. In its apperance, it presents the general evi- 
dences of a sulphurous and ferruginous contamination. 

Experiments made upon the water collected from these 
springs, or more properly called oozes from the soil, with 
the greatest care, by the employment of the most delicate 
chemical re-agents, failed to indicate the presence of any 
mineral except iron, sulphur, traces of magnesia, and a 
quantity of copper barely capable of being demonstrated. A 
belief being entertained by many that the disease is occa- 
sioned by arsenic, or some of its salts, I, with much care and 
patience, subjected not only the water, but likewise the 
earth, from these districts to a most rigid examination, and 
by no test was I furnished with the slightest evidence of 
its presence. 

An intelligent medical friend expressed to me his be- 
lief, that it was produced by the inhalation of some noxious 
gases generated during the night ; in proof, he stated that 
he had observed cattle, which were regularly housed each 
evening, escaped its attacks, and that when suffered to re- 
main at large, they were frequently seized with the disease. 
It is difficult to form this belief of the nature of the cause, 
as we can hardly conceive the particular action of any 
combination of circumstances, capabable of giving rise to 
such an emanation only at night, ceasing to operate during 



CAUSE OF THE DISEASE. 275 

the day. The most popular belief is in favor of a vegeta- 
ble origin. But this appears irreconcilable with the fact, 
that the disease has frequently appeared with its greatest 
virulence when the ground has been for weeks previously 
covered with snow. 

For my own part, I would most willingly subscribe to 
the opinion that some mineral, or mineral combination pos- 
sesses the agency of its production. Yet I confess that I can- 
not even imagine what must be the nature of that substance 
producing such violent and anomalous effects, and in its 
operations so unlike any thing with which we are acquaint- 
ed. The cause, whatever it may be, when it enters into 
the organization of the animal, either by inducing a specific 
action in the tissues of the economy, or by a combination 
with some of the elements of the body, forms a poison not 
more violent in its operation, than singular in the effects it 
can produce. If this cause should prove to be a mineral, it 
must be one of great subtlety, from its difficulty of detection, 
and from its virulence it must possess qualities and acti- 
vity not equalled nor resembled by any metal or metallic 
combination yet discovered. No substance of which we 
have any knowledge, will produce like phenomena. 

Hoping, that if I could succeed in developing the same 
symptoms and effects by some active or poisonous article, 
it might, by the probable analogy of the agents, lead to the 
discovery of the nature of this poison, I patiently tried many. 
The action of none of the mineral poisons were found at all 
similar. My experiments were chiefly made on dogs, and 
in them I found the symptoms immediately preceding their 
death, occasioned by a fatal dose of strychnia, greatly to re- 
semble those produced by the continued administration of 
the flesh of an animal which had perished from milk sick- 
ness. The appearances on dissection differ in a greater 



276 EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE. 

degree, and particularly in cases of poisoning by the vege- 
table proximate principle, exhibit the blood in a state more 
nearly resembling a healthy condition. With the view of 
an extensive series of experiments, I procured the body of 
a full grown cow, which had perished suddenly from the 
affection with violent symptoms. The brain was immersed 
in a copious effusion of blood, and in no part of the body 
was it found coagulated. The flesh in external appearances 
did not differ from that of healthy beef, unless that it was 
slightly darker, and a thin bloody fluid continually drop- 
ped from it. By exposing it by the side of a heallhy 
portion, I found that the influence of the sun rendered the 
specimen from the diseased animal offensive, and turned 
it to a greenish hue, whilst the other remained compara- 
tively sound and unaffected. It can possess nothing peculiar 
in its taste, for persons who have partaken of it have not 
remarked any thing unusual, and animals will exer- 
cise no preference, if the two descriptions be simultaneously 
presented to them. The beef which I procured was sub- 
jected to the ordinary process of salting, which did not in 
the least effect its poisonous properties. 

Butter and cheese, manufactured from the milk drawn 
from an infected cow, are supposed to be the most concen- 
trated forms of this poison. They possess no distinguish- 
ing appearance, odor, or taste, from the healthy article. 
A very minute quantity of either will suffice to develop 
the disease in man. The cream, ordinarily sufficient to be 
added to the coffee drunk at a single meal, is said to have 
induced an attack. The butter or cheese eaten at one re- 
past, has frequently been known to prove effective. The 
property is not contained in any of the elements of the milk 
exclusively, but distributed throughout the whole of them, 
being possessed by the butter-milk as well as the whey. 



EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE. 277 

Beef, in the quantity of a few ounces, will produce the dis- 
ease, and it is believed in a more violent and fatal form, 
than when it is produced by milk, or any of its preparations. 

The effect of the poison is manifested throughout the 
entire system, and vitiates all the secretions. An experi- 
ment, which went far to prove how deeply the milk of other 
animals is imbued with its poison, was made by adminis- 
tering the infected meat to a bitch suckling five puppies. 
The effect produced in them was very sudden, and the en- 
tire litter died in four days, which was two days before the 
occurrence of the death of the mother. 

The subtle, poisonous principle, of whatever it may be 
proved to consist, seems to possess the power of infinite 
reproduction, by some vital or chemico-vital action of the 
system of those animals poisoned by its influence. Thus 
supposing one pound of flesh to prove sufficient to produce 
the death of another animal, it will be found that each 
pound of flesh of that animal so destroyed, will possess as 
active powers of destruction, and will, in its turn, serve to 
contaminate the whole body of another animal in the same 
degree. 

Hundreds of persons throughout the west and south- 
west are annually perishing from attacks of this disease. 
Owing to the want of success which has so uniformly at- 
tended the practice of their physicians, many of the inhab- 
itants depend entirely upon their domestic remedies. It is 
in that country emphatically one of the approbria medico- 
rum. 

The mortality of the disease is illustrated by the fol- 
lowing cases which occurred in Dr. Graff's own practice. 
The circumstances are thus stated : " The entire family of 
a Mr. Frazier, moving westward, purchased a quantity of 
fresh beef in Indiana, of which every member of the com- 

24 



278 ITS FATALITY ILLUSTRATED. 

pany partook heartily, daily, until it was exhausted, which 
was the day on which they arrived in my neighborhood, 
being the evening of the fourth day. In the evening they 
retired, apparently in their usual health ; but during the 
night I was summoned to attend a female of the company 
who was seized with violent illness, when I found the 
unequivocal symptoms, and the peculiar odor of milk sick- 
ness. Upon a careful examination, I discovered the smell 
present with every member of the family, and on inquiry 
ascertained about the beef and the locality in which they 
purchased it, which at once satisfied me they were doom- 
ed. Before the next morning every member of that com- 
pany of six was attacked in a violent manner, and only 
one of the number recovered." 

Thus far our author: we subjoin very few words of our 
own. Whilst an evident difference is admitted to exist in 
the virulence of the effects produced by the milk and flesh of 
animals affected with milk sickness, and the milk and flesh 
of those diseased by slop and other improper food, yet 
there are some points of resemblance which deserve no- 
tice. 

First. We are informed, " that cows may be affected 
with milk sickness to such a degree, as that their milk and 
flesh will produce disease, and yet they themselves manifest 
no unhealthy symptoms whatever." We remark, that this 
is often the case with diseased slop-fed cattle, whose milk 
is so noxious as to impair health and destroy life, whilst 
their good appetite and plump appearance indicate no cog- 
nizable symptoms of disease, until they die as suddenly as 
unexpectedly. 

Second. Dr. Graff states that he gave the infected 
flesh of a cow which had died of milk sickness, to a bitch 
suckling five puppies, which proved how deeply the milk 



POINTS OF RESEMBLANCE. 279 

of another animal was imbued with the poison. " The ef- 
fect," he says, " produced in them was very sudden, and 
the entire litter died in four days, which was two days be- 
fore the occurrence of the death of the mother." This is 
precisely analogous to the effects of slop on the milk of 
the sow, which is thereby rendered so poisonous as sud- 
denl y to destroy sucking pigs, with this difference : the 
constitution of grown swine longer resists the agency of 
this destructive diet. 

Third. Our author remarks of the flesh of the cow 
which had perished of milk sickness, " in external appear- 
ances it did not differ from that of healthy beef, unless it 
was slightly darker, and a thin bloody fluid continually 
dropped from it." He also informs us that it possessed 
nothing remarkable in taste, but was peculiarly prone to 
putridity. The nature and also the characteristic appear- 
ances of slop-fed beef were described in a previous chapter 
(p. 147) long before Dr. Graff's essay was published ; yet 
so nearly do they correspond in every essential particular 
with the above account that the substances designated 
might be supposed identical. If is, therefore, less remark- 
able that slop-fed beef is imbued with unhealthy proper- 
ties, than that a coincidence in external appearances so 
striking, should result from causes so different. 

"We only add, that though the cause of milk sickness 
is still enveloped in mystery, on farther investigation it will 
probably be found to proceed from some poisonous mineral 
combination ; for it is already known that arsenical iron 
pyrites are scattered in great abundance, throughout every 
section where this malignant disease prevails. 



CHAPTER XXX, 

FOREIGN MILK DAIRIES. 

Impure milk not peculiar to American cities. — Flemish and Dutch 
dairies. — Food for cattle; — Dairy management in Holland, 
Switzerland, etc. — How managed for the supply of large towns 
with milk in England. — Brewers' grains, the chief food of milch 
cows. — How preserved. — Distillery slop. — Other food. — Stabling 
cows. — Rhodes's dairy, description of. — Laycock's dairy. — Me- 
tropolitan dairy. — Frauds in milk. — Effects of stabling. — Cows in 
London. — Adulterations and impositions in milk. — Harley's dairy 
at Glasgow. — Professed advantages of his system. — Its defects. 

It has been remarked, that impure milk is not, in a 
peculiar sense, the scourge of American cities. For the 
sake of humanity, we devoutly wish such were its narrow 
limits, and that other countries were exempted from so 
grievous a curse. But, unhappily, this is very far from 
being the fact. In Europe the evil is not merely confined 
to a few populous towns or rural districts, but in some in- 
stances is spread through entire kingdoms. In Sweden, 
for illustration, every farm-house has a distillery, the re- 
fuse of which is fed to cattle ; and the same management 
appears to prevail throughout the northern countries of 
Europe. Even in Germany, a brewery and distillery are 
regarded as the indispensable accompaniments of every 
large farming establishment. 

Among the Flemish and Dutch, a more rational sys- 
tem prevails, but owing to the inferiority of their pastures, 
the dairies are more remarkable for the abundance, than 
the excellence of their products. In Flanders, the principal 






FLEMISH AND DUTCH DAIRIES. 281 

article of food for cows in summer is clover, cut and car- 
ried to the stalls. On a small scale, where pasturage is 
to be had, the cattle are left at liberty ; where this is not 
the case each cow is led by a rope, and permitted to feed 
round the cornfields, the grassy borders of which are left 
about ten feet wide for this purpose. 

The food of one cow in winter, for twenty-four hours, 
is straw eighteen pounds ; and turnips sixty pounds. Some 
farmers boil the turnips for the cattle ; others give them 
raw, chopping them with a spade : one or the other opera- 
tions is necessary to obviate the risk of choking the animal 
where the turnips, which is usually the case in Flanders, 
are of a small size. Instead of turnips, potatoes, carrots 
and grains are occasionally used. Bean straw is likewise 
given, and uniformly a white drink prepared both for cows 
and horses, consisting of water in which some oil cake has 
been dissolved, whitened with rye-meal, oat-meal, or the 
flour of buckwheat. 

In Holland, the summer feed for dairies is pasturage day 
and night ; in winter, hay, turnips, grains from the brew- 
eries, cakes of linseed, and of rapeseed, also bean and 
other meals, and the white drink before mentioned. For 
the sake of cleanliness, the tails of the cows are tied to 
the roof of the stable with a cord during the time of milk- 
ing. The cow-houses, both in Flanders and Holland, are 
kept remarkably clean and warm ; so much so, that a gen- 
tleman (Rev. Thomas Radcliff) spoke of having drank 
coffee with a cow-keeper, in the general cow stable in win- 
ter, without the least annoyance from cold, filth, or any of- 
fensive smell. 

Among the Swiss, cows, goats, and sheep constitute 
the wealth of the farmers, and their principal means of 
support ; or, to discriminate more accurately, the goats, in 
24* 



282 FLEMISH AND DUTCH DAIRIES. 

a great measure, support the poorer class, and the cows 
supply the cheese from which the richer derive their little 
wealth. The extent of pasture is estimated by the num- 
ber of cows it will maintain. The mountain pastures are 
rented at so much for each cow's feed, from the 15th of 
May to the 18th of October ; and the cows are hired from 
the peasants for the same period ; and at the end of that 
time are restored to the owners. In other parts, the pro- 
prietors of the pastures hire the cows, or the owners of the 
cows rent the land. 

The Grinderwald Alps feed three thousand cows, and 
about the same number of sheep and goats. The cattle are 
attended on the mountains by herdsmen, who, when the 
weather is tempestuous are up all night calling to their cows, 
otherwise they would take fright and run into danger. 
Chalets are built for the use of the herdsmen. These 
are log houses of the rudest construction, without a chim- 
ney, having a pit or trench dug for the fire, and the earth 
thrown up forming a mound around the interior area, which 
serves for a seat. To these chalets, the persons whose em- 
ployment it is to milk the cows, and to make cheese and 
butter, ascend in the summer season. When they go out 
to milk the cows, a portable seat with a. single leg is strap- 
ped to their backs ; and at milking time, the cows are at- 
tracted home from the most distant pastures by a handful 
of salt, which the herdsman takes from a leathern pouch 
hanging over his shoulder. During the milking, the Ra?is 
des Vetches is frequently sung. 

In some parts of Switzerland, the cows yield on an 
average twelve English quarts of milk a day ; and with 
forty cows, a cheese of forty-five pounds can be made daily. 
In the vicinity of Altdorf, they make in the course of a 
hundred days, from the 20th of June, two cheeses daily, of 



SWISS AND FRENCH DAIRIES. 283 

the weight of twenty-five pounds each, from the milk of 
eighteen cows. On the elevated pastures of Scarla, a cow, 
during the best season, produces nearly sixty pounds of 
skim-milk cheese, and forty pounds of butter. Reckoning 
twenty-eight pounds of milk equivalent to one of butter, 
the produce will be eight hundred pounds for ninety days, 
or less than nine pounds a day. This small return is as- 
cribed to the great height of the pastures, and to the in- 
sufficient food of the cows in winter.* 

The best French dairies are in Normandy ; but in this 
department of agriculture, France does not excel. In the 
southern districts, olive, almond, and poppy oil supply the 
place of butter ; and goat's milk is generally used for food. 

In Germany, the best pastures and meadows are at 
Holstein, and along the margin of the German ocean ; 
and for the same reasons that prevail in Holland and Brit- 
ain, the mildness and moisture of the winters. There are 
also good pastures and meadows on the Danube, in Hun- 
gary ; but the great heats of summer are generally unfa- 
vorable to dairy husbandry. 

But our concern is chiefly with cities, and that the no- 
tice may not be unduly extended, we will confine it to 
some of the principal towns in England. A few particu- 
lars may be mentioned in order. 

First, food. The dairymen who produce milk for sale 
in an unmanufactured state, are, of course, limited to pop- 
ulous neighborhoods. They never grow their cow pro- 
vender, but feed their cattle chiefly on brewers' grains ; 
that is, malt after it has been used by the brewer. This 
appears to be the invariable practice throughout the king- 
dom, as well in the largest and best regulated establishments, 
as in the smaller and inferior dairies. 

* For. Quart. Rev. and Cont. Misc. 



284 GRAINS AND SLOP. 

As the brewing seasons are chiefly in autumn and 
spring, a stock of grains is generally laid in at those sea- 
sons for the rest of the year ; the following is the method 
of preserving them at the large dairies in London. The 
grains are laid in pits, lined with brickwork set in cement, 
from ten to twenty feet deep, and of any convenient di- 
mensions. They are firmly trodden down, and covered 
with a layer of moist earth, eight or nine inches thick, to 
keep out the rain and frost in winter, and the heat in sum- 
mer. A cow consumes about a bushel of these grains daily, 
the cost of which is from fourpence to fivepence, exclu- 
sive of the carriage and preservation. The grains are, if 
possible, thrown into the pit while warm and in a state of 
fermentation, and they soon turn sour, but it is said, they 
are not liked the worse by cattle on that account ; and the 
air being perfectly excluded, the fermentation cannot run 
on to putrefaction. The dairymen say that the slow 
and slight degree of fermentation which goes on, tends 
to the greater development of the saccharine and nutritive 
principle, and they will have as large a stock on hand as 
they can afford, and not open the pits until they are com- 
pelled. It is not uncommon for two years to pass before a 
pit of grains is touched ; and it is said that some have lain 
nine years and been perfectly good at the expiration of that 
period. The dairyman, however must know his brewer, 
and be able to depend upon him. The grains from a large 
ale brewery are considered the most nourishing. Those 
from a porter brewery are not so good ; and those from 
the little brewers, who first draw off their ale, and after- 
wards extract every particle of nutriment in the formation 
of table beer, are scarcely worth having. 

Distillery slop, also, or as it is called in England, 
"wash," to the extent produced, appears there to be in 



GRAINS AND SLOP. 285 

as great demand for milch cows as in this country ; and the 
distillers in the neighborhood of London and other popu- 
lous places, manage much as do the same class of persons 
in the vicinity of New-York. Large dairy establishments 
are got up expressly for the purpose of consuming on the 
premises the slop of the distilleries. At Brentford, near 
London, one of these concerns was constructed at a cost of 
j£8000, and calculated to contain 600 head of cattle. The 
price of brewers' grains is fourpence halfpenny per bushel ; 
of distillers' grains, on account of the meal they contain, 
ninepence a bushel 5 of slop, 36 gallons for sixpence. 

The management of the cows, however, in the larger 
establishments, is far superior to what obtains in our dairies. 
Grains and slops appear to be used always in connection 
with large supplies of more natural and substantial food. 
One of the most singular facts connected with their mode of 
cow-keeping is, that the process of fattening goes on at 
the same time with the milking ; and when they become 
dry, they are usually fit for sale in the Smithfield beef-mar- 
ket. At Laycock's " lactary," at Islington, which is one 
of the best, their food is composed of brewers' grains, 
mangel wurtzel, ruta baga, and hay ; the turnips for fat- 
tening. The daily average for each head, is cne bushel of 
grains, fifty-six pounds of mangel wurtzel, or turnip, and 
twelve pounds of hay. It is proved there, as in New-York, 
that brewers' or distillers' grains alone, to say nothing of 
slop, are miserable food for cows, producing milk of very 
inferior quality, and requiring hay and roots to prevent se- 
rious detriment to the health of the cattle. 

Second. The confinement of dairy cows appears to be 
general. As the dairies of London are objects of much in- 
terest to the stranger and the agriculturist, and happily illus- 
trate the effects resulting from a combined and well-ar- 



286 RHODES's DAIRY. 

ranged system, we will subjoin a sketch of some of them. 
The most eminent, are two at Islington, belonging to Mr. 
Laycock, and Mr. Rhodes, and the metropolitan dairy on 
the Edgeware road. 

Rhodes's dairy has been established more than thirty 
years. The surface on which the buildings are placed is a 
gentle slope of two or three acres, facing the east. The 
sheds run in the direction of the slope, as well for the drain- 
age of the gutters as for the supply of water for drinking, 
which will thus run from trough to trough the whole length 
of the shed. The sheds are twenty-four feet wide; the 
side walls being about eight feet high, with rising shutters 
for ventilation, and panes of glass let into iron frames for 
light. The floor is nearly flat, with a gutter along the 
centre, and a row of stalls, each seven feet and a half wide, 
along the sides, and adapted for two cows, which are 
attached by chains to a ring that runs upon an upright rod 
in the corner of the stalls. A trough or manger, of the or- 
dinary size of those used for horses, is placed at the top of 
the stall. Four of these sheds are placed parallel and close 
to each other, and in the party-walls are openings a foot 
wide, and four feet high, opposite to each cow. The bot- 
tom of these openings is about nine inches higher than the 
upper surface of the troughs, and receives a one foot square 
cast iron cistern, which contains the water for drinking ; 
each cistern serves for two cows that are placed opposite to 
each other, but in different sheds : all these cisterns are sup- 
plied from one large tank. These cisterns have a wooden 
cover, which is put on while the cows are eaig their grains, 
to prevent their drinking at that time and tainting the 
water by dropping any of the grains into it. At the upper 
end, and at one corner of this quadruple range of sheds, is 
the dairy, consisting of three rooms, each abou. twelve feet 



RHODES'S DAIRY. 287 

square ; the outer or measuring room, the middle or scald- 
ing-room, with a fire-place and a boiler, and the inner, or 
milk and butter room. 

At the lower end of the range is a square yard surround- 
ed by sheds, some for fattening the cows when they have 
ceased to give milk, and the others for store and breeding 
pigs. The pigs are kept to consume the casual stock of 
skim-milk which remains on hand, owing to the fluctuation 
oft he demand. The milk is kept in a well, walled with brick 
laid in cement, about six feet in diameter, and twelve deep. 
The milk soon becomes sour there, but is then thought to 
be most nourishing. Breeding swine are said to be most 
profitable, and the sucking pigs are sold for roasting. 

Beyond this yard is a deep pit or pond into which the 
excrement is emptied. There is a stack-yard, sheds, and 
pits for roots, straw, and hay; a place for cutting chaff, 
cart-sheds, stables, and every building which such an es- 
tablishment can require. The number of cows varies from 
four to five hundred. 

Salt is given to the cows, at the rate of two ounces 
each cow a clay. Their principal food consists of brewers' 
grains ; but portions of green food or roots are supplied 
alternately with the grains. In winter, when tares or green 
fodder cannot be produced, after the turnips, potatoes or 
mangel wurtzel have been eaten, they are supplied with hay. 

Laycock's dairy establishment is also situated at Isling- 
ton, and covers several acres. The number of cows 
varies from four to seven hundred. We will only notice a 
few particulars, in which this concern differs from Mr. 
Rhodes's dairy. The cows in Rhodes's are never untied 
while they are retained as milkers. Some of them have 
stood in the stall more than two years. Mr. Laycock, on the 
contrary, turns out his cows once every day to drink from 



288 METROPOLITAN DAIRY. 

troughs in the yard, and they remain out from half an 
hour to three hours, depending on the weather and the sea- 
son of the year. From the end of June until Michael- 
mas, they are turned into the fields from six o'clock in the 
morning until twelve or one ; and from two o'clock in the 
afternoon until about three o'clock on the following morn- 
ing. Mr. Rhodes's cows have always water standing in 
the cistern before them. 

The metropolitan dairy establishment stands on less 
than an acre of ground, and is calculated for 360 cows. 
The cow-houses are in parallel ranges, twenty-four feet 
wide, the side walls eight feet high, the space allowed for 
each cow about three feet nine inches, and the greater 
number of cow-houses without stalls. There is one gut- 
ter in the centre, and no raised foot-path there ; it being 
found that the latter is apt to make the cows stumble 
when turned out upon any occasion. But these occasions 
are extremely rare, for the cows here, as in Mr. Rhodes's 
establishment, are never untied from the day they are put 
into the milking shed, until they are removed for fattening 
or for slaughter. The food consists of grains chiefly ; 
grass and roots constitute the rest of their food ; dry hay 
is seldom given, and the chaff of clover hay, when used, is 
always mixed with grains or wash. The cows are never 
turned out to water ; but from a large cistern, pipes con- 
duct it to every cow-house ; and the water being turned 
into a manger, as it runs slowly by, each cow drinks at 
pleasure. 

Such is a sketch of some of the principal milk dairies 
about London. They have been constructed and are main- 
tained at considerable expense, and being objects of curi- 
osity to those who take an interest in such matters, attract 
many visitors ; the proprietors, of course, keep them in the 



FRAUDS IN MILK. 289 

best condition for public inspection. They are regarded as 
complete concerns of the kind ; but it must be admitted that 
as it respects the conditions which are absolutely essential 
to the health of the cows and the production of nutritious 
and healthy milk, namely, adequate exercise, pure air, 
and natural food, they are most lamentably defective. In- 
ferior, however, as must be the quality of the milk, it is 
said to be rarely vended pure in the state it comes from 
the dairies. The method of distribution would, indeed, ap- 
pear to favor a system of imposition. The milk is chiefly 
sold by small itinerant dealers, who have " milk walks," 
or a certain number of customers whom they supply twice 
a day, and contract for as many cows, which they milk 
themselves, as will supply their demand; of course what- 
ever frauds the dealers may practise, there is no oversight 
or responsibility on the part of the wholesaler. Says a 
London writer on this subject : " Though the cow-keepers 
do not themselves adulterate the milk, yet they are not to 
be wholly acquitted of the guilt; for in many of the milk- 
rooms, where the milk is measured for the retailer, pumps 
are erected for the express purpose of furnishing water for 
the adulteration, which is openly performed on the spot, in 
the presence of any who happen to be present." Youatt 
remarks : " The name of new milk has something very plea- 
sant about it, but it is an article which very rarely makes 
its appearance at the breakfast or tea-table of the citizen. 
That which is got from the cow at night, is put by until 
the morning, and the cream skimmed off, and then a little 
water being added, it is sold to the public as the morning's 
milk. The real morning's milk is also put by and skimmed, 
and being warmed a little, is sold as the evening's milk." 
The same writer elsewhere observes in relation to the 
confinement of cows : " We can readily conceive that, from 

25 



290 DAIRY COWS IN LONDON. 

want of exercise, and consequent cutaneous perspiration, 
Rhodes's cows may give a somewhat greater quantity of 
milk than Laycock's ; but on the other hand, when we 
think of an animal tied in the corner of a stall for twelve, 
or eighteen, or twenty-four months together, we cannot help 
associating the idea of disease, or tendency to disease at 
least, with such an unnatural state of things ; the feet and 
digestive system would particularly suffer, and we should 
suspect a little vitiation of all the secretions, and some 
deterioration in the quality of the milk." 

It is estimated that 12000 cows* are kept in the envi- 
rons of London for supplying the inhabitants with milk. 
It is therefore evident that nine tenths of the milk con- 
sumed is furnished by the small dealers, who each keep- 
ing their half dozen cows, etc., in places retired from the 
public eye, and in a manner that will best subserve their 
own interests, it is not likely under these circumstances 
that better milk will be produced, than in the larger es- 
tablishments. The accounts of the London dairies, in some 
particulars, appear to be conflicting ; but from all we can 

* The quantity of milk yielded by all these cows, at nine quarts 
each per day, amounts to 39,420,000 quarts, or 27 quarts of genuine 
milk for each individual. The retail dealers usually sell the milk 
for fourpence per quart, after the cream is separated from it, and 
then about three shillings per quart for the cream ; besides this, a great 
deal of water is mixed with this skimmed milk : so that we far un- 
derrate the price when we calculate that the genuine milk sells at six- 
pence per quart, which makis the money expended in milk in the 
British metropolis amount to £985,000, or nearly a million of pounds 
per annum. 

If we again divide the £985,000, by 12,000 (the number of cows), 
we have the almost incredible sum of more than eighty-two pounds 
as the money produced by the milk of each cow. This is divided 
among a variety of persons, and after all affords but a scanty sub 
sistence to many of them ; but it unequivocally proves the rascality 
that pervades some of the departments of the, concern. — Youalt. 



DEFECTS OF THE DAIRIES. 291 

learn, it may be safely inferred that the condition of the 
greater part is little superior to those in New -York. Lou- 
don says : " The defects of the London dairy establishments, 
appear to be, chiefly, want of cleanliness, and imperfect 
ventilation." And again : " The idea is by no means pleas- 
ing, of consuming milk chiefly manufactured from grains, 
and distillery wash, and produced by cows deprived of all 
exercise in the open air." Another writer remarks : " We 
cannot omit to animadvert on the culpable filthiness of 
cows, both in the metropolis and vicinity, w*here these ani- 
mals are literally crammed, not w r ith wholesome food, but 
with such matters as are calculated to produce an abun- 
dance of milk. This unnatural practice, however, would 
be in some degree venial, if the milk was vended in a pure 
state. It is indeed a notorious fact, which we think it our 
duty to state, that vessels both of hot and cold w T ater are 
always kept in the milk-houses for the accommodation of 
mercenary retailers. Those persons purchase a certain 
quantity of unadulterated milk at a low price; but as each 
must make his or her profit, they mix it with such propor- 
tions of w T ater as they think necessary to make their milk 
of sufficient standard ; when it is hawked about at exorbi- 
tant prices. Circumstances of this fraudulent kind ought to 
be more generally known ; and we trust the vigilance of 
the police will be extended to the suppression of other 
practices in the trade, equally bold and pernicious."* 

For the foregoing facts, where other reference is not 
given, we are chiefly indebted to Loudon and Youatt, who 
are standard authorities on these subjects, and whose ac- 
curacy, so far as they go, may not be questioned. Their 
attention, however, was not directed to the infringement 

Domestic Enc, Vol. IV. p. 78. 



292 hakley's dairy. 

of natural laws and the consequent effects on the health 
and lives of human beings, but solely to the management 
of cattle with a view to economical results. Detailed ac- 
counts, therefore, of the specific forms of evil under consid- 
eration, would have been inconsistent with their object ; 
yet enough has been incidentally disclosed to show that 
the whole system is characterized by ignorance of physio- 
logical principles, and a mercenary recklessness of conse- 
quences ; whilst the people, unconscious of the evils inflicted 
upon them, are making no exertions for their correction. 
That they may be corrected and a more rational mode of 
treatment be introduced, is, we believe, everywhere prac- 
ticable to well-directed efforts. Loudon says : " Already 
country dairies have sprung up at the distance of from five 
to twenty miles from London, and milk and cream are sent 
to town in close vessels in spring-carts which go at a rapid 
trot. When, instead of spring-carts rail-roads are esta- 
blished, on which carriages may go at the rate of thirty 
miles an hour, the milk and butter used by the common- 
est people of London, will be of as good quality, as that 
now used almost exclusively by gentlemen who have coun- 
try-seats." If this may be affirmed of the British metropo- 
lis, the complete reform of this enormous evil in other 
cities, should not be regarded as visionary or impracti- 
cable. 

We subjoin an account of Harley's dairy establish- 
ment at Glasgow, which being esteemed very complete 
of its kind, has been celebrated since 1813. The profess- 
ed object of the proprietor is, to supply the public with 
new milk free from adulteration, and to have the stables, 
cows, and milk kept in a more cleanly condition than by 
the usual mode. 

The cow-house contained one hundred cows. It stood 



HARLEY'S DAIRY". 



293 



upon a vaulted cellar, which was divided into three apart- 
ments; the middle one for the manure, that at one end for 
potatoes and other roots to be used as food ; and in the 
other, cows not giving milk were kept. 







The excrement was dropped into the centre division 
through apertures in the gutters (see the cut, a a,) eighteen 
inches in diameter, covered with cast-iron plates. Some- 
times a cart was brought into the cellar, and the excremen- 
titious matter at once dropped into it, and carted away. 
The covers had finger-holds for lifting them, and the refuse 
was drawn along the grooves into them by a broad hoe or 
scraper fitted to the groove. It was often found necessary 
to mix ashes with it, to render it of a fit consistence to 
be carted away. The second division of the vaults was 
fitted for the process of fattening; darkness and quiet be- 
ing considered favorable circumstances. In the third, 
roots were effectually preserved from frost. At one end 
of the cow-house a tank was formed fifty feet long, sixteen 
feet wide, and six deep, with its surface on a level with 
the bottom of the cellar ; it was arched over, and had a 
man-hole for cleaning out the sediment, four feet in di- 
ameter ; into this tank the whole of the urine was conduct- 
ed, after being filtered through the urine gutters into spouts 

25* 



294 harley's dairy. 

beneath it, reaching the whole length of the house. Each 
filter consisted of a vessel covered with a plate of cast-iron, 
pierced with small holes, the surface of the plate being on 
a level with the surface of the gutter ; the use of the ves- 
sel under it, is to receive the sediment, for which purpose 
it is made four inches wider than the cover, and in this extra 
width the water runs over into the cast-iron spout, by 
which it is conducted to the tank. It enters the tank by 
a division surrounded by boards pierced with holes, so as 
to filter it a second time, in order that the water may be 
pumped up with greater ease. This water was sold to 
gardeners, and others, at from Is. to Is. 6d. per hundred 
gallons. The roof was supported in the middle by cast- 
iron pillars (6) ; there were no ceilings, but the slates were 
hung to the quarterings of the rafters on pins, with a good 
lap j this being found warm enough in the coldest weath- 
er, and favorable for ventilation in the hottest : there were 
also windows in the roof, both for light and ventilation. 
The heat was generally kept from 60 to 64 degrees. The 
passages (c) were paved and five feet wide, and two inches 
and a half higher in the middle than at the side. 

The floor on which the cows stood in Harley's cow- 
house, was raised six inches above the passages ; this not 
only showed the cows to better advantage, but kept them 
dry and clean : and two and a half feet of the floor next to 
the trough, was made of composition, similar to what is 
commonly used in making barn floors; because the principal 
weight of the cows being upon their fore-feet,'and as in ly- 
ing down the whole weight is upon their knees, it was ob- 
viously desirable to have that part of the stall as smooth 
and soft as possible. It is conceived, indeed, that joists and 
flooring would be the best for that purpose, were it not for 
the expense. The back part of the stall was of hewn 



barley's dairy. 295 

stone, and for about eighteen inches towards the groove there 
was an inclination of about half an inch to let the water 
run off; and these eighteen inches were of striped ashler 
transversed, the strips being about an inch separate ; this 
prevented the feet of the cows from slipping. In all cow- 
houses, perhaps, the front part of the stalls should be rather 
lower than the back part, since it would enable the cattle 
to lie easier; and, besides this, they would not be apt to 
slip their calf. Cows which put out their calf-bed, or have 
a tendency to slip their calf, should have a straw mat laid 
below their hind quarters. The bottom of the feeding 
troughs was on a level with the floor of the stalls; both 
edges were of hewn stone, the outer one next the passage 
was three inches above the bottom of the trough, and the 
other six inches higher ; they were four inches and a half 
thick, and rounded to a semi-circle ; the trough was one 
foot three inches wide, and six feet four inches long. 

The standing room for the cows in the dairy, that is, 
the space between the feeding trough (d) and gutter (a) 
was from six to seven feet ; the latter dimensions beino 1 
for the larger cows. The breadth allowed for a cow was 
from three feet to three feet six inches ; two cows stand- 
ing together between wooden partitions as in stables (e). 
Each cow is fixed to a stake nine inches from the partitions, 
and six inches from the feeding trough ; the stakes are two 
and a half inches in diameter, and the cows are fixed to 
them by chains and swivels fixed to rings. " The chains 
were three feet seven inches long, consisting of twenty- 
one links, viz. three on one side of the swivel, and eigh- 
teen on the other ; the short end of the chain had a hook 
for joining the chain, with a broad point of an oval shape, 
which was more easily hooked or unhooked, and answered 
the purpose better than the common mode used in dogs' 



296 harley's dairy. 

chains. The hecks, or racks for the hay, are three feet 
two inches long, by one foot ten inches deep, framed with 
deal, and filled up with one horizontal and ten perpendicu- 
lar iron rods a quarter of an inch in diameter. These 
hecks are hung with window-cord which passes over pul- 
leys, so that they can be raised by a wheel and pinion at 
pleasure above the heads of the cows, when they are eating 
green food from the feeding-gutter. Mr. Harley considers 
it of importance not only that each cow should be kept 
clean by combing and brushing, but by the chain system 
of fastening, should have the liberty of licking its own 
skin, and that of its fellow.* 

The cattle stand in rows, twelve in a row, across the 
house, head and head, tail and tail alternately ; there is a 
passage behind for cleaning, and one in front for feeding. 
In front of each cow is a wire grating, hung like a win- 
dow-sash, which lifts up when giving the soft food and 
cleaning the cribs, and is put down when they get hay, etc 
The contrivances for washing the cribs, collecting the urine, 
and ventilating the house, give peculiar advantages to the 
establishment, which may be summed up in the following 
items : — the health of the cattle ; the preservation of the 
timbers ; the diminished danger from fire, there being no 
hay-loft above the cattle ; the preservation of the proven- 
der ; and the flavor of the milk. The heat is regulated by 
thermometers. A circulation of air can be produced, so as 
to keep the cattle comfortable in the hottest weather, by 
which their health is promoted. Ventilation also pre- 
vents the timber from rotting ; makes the cows eat their 
fodder better, as their breath is allowed to escape, instead 
of being thrown back upon the food, as is the case when 

* Harlean Dairy System, p. 28. 






PROFESSED ADVANTAGES. 297 

their heads are placed opposite a wall. It is well known 
that milk takes a taste from any other substance ; of course, 
if the cow-house is filled with bad air, the milk while 
passing from the teat to the pail, and during the time it 
may stand in the house, will be impregnated with foul at- 
mosphere. 

In feeding and preparing the food, Harley has made 
many experiments ; and by the mode he now follows, the 
cattle fatten and milk better, than by the ordinary process; 
and the milk has no taste from turnips, or other vege- 
tables. 

The arrangement for milking, insures the cow to be 
clean milked, and also prevents fraud ; and the mode of 
locking up the milk, and at the same time of admitting air, 
prevents adulteration by the retailer. The cows are not 
farmed out to milkmen, as in London. 

The stock of cows for some time back, has been 120, 
averaging eleven English quarts each per day ; but both 
quality and quantity depend much upon the kind of food. 
Harley gives a decided preference to the Ayrshire breed of 
cows. They are bought chiefly at country fairs, either 
newly calved, or a few weeks before calving, and are 
never turned out until they go to the butcher. 

The food of the cows during summer consists of cut 
grass and green barley mixed with old hay ; and during 
winter, Harley uses a good many turnips and potatoes, all 
of which are steamed and mixed with cut hay and straw ; 
also grains and distillery wash, when these can he got. 

When there is more milk than supplies the demand, 
part is put in the milk-house until next day, when the 
skimmed milk is sold at half price, and the cream sold at 
Is. 6d. per quart. When any cream is left, it is put in a 
churn and made into butter once a week or fortnight. 



298 PROFESSED ADVANTAGES. 

A table of regulations has been adopted for the times 
of feeding, milking, currying the cattle, cleaning the 
houses, etc. Each person has a currycomb, and a hair- 
cloth for cleaning the cows twice a day, and a mop and 
pail for the house, which is washed and sanded twice a 
day. 

The cleanly state of the cattle and house, makes it a 
treat for visitors to see the establishment ; and the way 
the vessels and milk house are kept, has made some per- 
sons fond of milk, who were formerly disgusted with it, 
from the manner in which many town dairies are con- 
ducted. 

The advantage of this system to the owner of the 
cattle, is shown from the following abstract, in Harley's own 
words : but the benefit of a liberal supply of genuine milk 
to the community at large, particularly to children, he 
says, it is not easy to estimate : — 

To the general health of cattle by ventilation, 15 per 
cent. 

To the prevention of disease called grain sickness, — 
when fed on grains, 15 per cent. 

To the prevention of swelling, by eating young and 
wet grass, 15 per cent. 

To the prevention of choking, when feeding on turnip 
or potatoes, 15 per cent. 

To saving in the expense of feeding by improved modes 
of cooking, 20 per cent. 

To saving of labor in feeding, cleaning, etc., 50 per 
cent., as one person will do as much as two on the old 
plan ; but allow 25 per cent, of this for draining, etc., 
leaves 25 per cent, profit on servants' wages. 

To saving of timber in building, as they will last more 
than double the time, 50 per cent. 



DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM* 299 

Harley has a steam engine for driving the following 
machinery : 

A small thrashing-mill. 

A straw-cutter. 

A turnip and potato slicer. 

The churning apparatus. 

Pumping water, etc. 

The same boiler that drives the engine, steams the 
food, anl warms the water, etc. 

After much study, labor and expense, the establishment 
is now brought to such a state of perfection, that it receives 
the cordial approbation of all who have seen it ; furnish- 
ing the community with genuine milk at comparatively a 
low price. It is admitted that the greater part of the sys- 
tem is origin il, and is" not to be met with in any part of 
the kingdom.* 

Loudon remarks, " that the merits of Harley 's system 
are considered to be greatly exaggerated in the above ac- 
count. Taking the system altogether, it may be described 
as essentially that employed by the dairy farmers in Hol- 
land and the Netherlands, given at length by Radcliffand 
Sinclair." 

From the foregoing representations of Harley's dairy, 
we are prepared to commend all the real improvements 
introduced into it, and these strike us as being considera- 
ble. By this system important pecuniary advantages ac- 
crue to the proprietor, whilst the health of the cattle, and 
the purity of the milk are both promoted by the superior 
attention which is paid to cleanliness and ventilation. But 
granting all that can be claimed for these particulars, the 
system has two radical defects. First, the cows are fed 

* Farmer's Mag.. Vol. XV; p. 189. 



300 DEFECTS OF THE SYSTEM. 

all the brewers' grains, and distillery slop that can be ob- 
tained. Second, being confined in stables, they are totally 
deprived of exercise. Whatever, therefore, may be the 
merits of the establishment in other respects, these alone 
are sufficient to condemn it. Proper food and exercise are 
essential to the health of cattle ; and these being disre- 
garded, all the animal secretions become vitiated, and 
the milk impure and unhealthy. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

OBJECTIONS ANSWERED, AND THE DIFFICULTIES C F REFORM CON- 
SIDERED. 

Slop healthy food for cattle, because the refuse of grain. — Slop said 
to be eaten in the state of vinous fermentation. — Cattle said to 
thrive on small portions of slop. — Gradual correction of the 
evil. — Difficulties in the way of reform. — The evil stands not 
alone. — Why distillers are opposed to reform. — A letter from dis- 
tillers. — The distillation of liquor encouraged by the patronage of 
the moral and temperate.— Cow-stablesthe nightly resort of thieves 
and vagabonds. — Responsibility of distillers. — Distilleries in New- 
York, etc. — Production of whisky.— Destruction of grain. — 
Whisky from the west and south. — Dilution and sale of slop es- 
sential to the support of the distilleries. — The number of rectifying 
houses. — The advantages of these establishments to the city distil- 
ler. — Distillation of spirit from molasses. — A grain distillery in 
Philadelphia. — Opposition of slop-men. — Diseased condition of the 
cattle. — The stock and their management must be changed. — The 
evil, not necessary. — Reform practicable. — Desecration of the Sab- 
bath by the traffic in milk and slop. 

Some few minds that appear soberly intent on truth, 
are not quite clear in relation to certain points involved in 
the general inquiry. It is, therefore, proposed to throw the 
difficulties which have been suggested into a tangible form, 
for the purpose of connecting therewith such elucidatory 
remarks as our information may enable us to make. 

I. It is asserted, " that still-slop is healthy and proper 
for cattle, because it is composed of corn and rye." 

This is most obviously leaping at an inference. We 
may say that whisky is healthy and proper because it is 
produced from corn and rye ; but who does not in this 

26 



302 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

case see the fallacy of the conclusion 1 Every novice in 
chemistry knows, that in chemical combinations a slight 
change in the component parts will form an entire new 
substance. Thus the air we breathe, by a slight change 
in the constituent elements, becomes a deadly gas, and 
kills as soon as it is inhaled. Vinegar, though so differ- 
ent in its properties from sugar, is precisely analogous in 
its composition. But it is unnecessary to multiply exam- 
ples to show the utter fallacy of the conclusions deduced 
from such premises. And if, for the sake of argument, we 
admit that there has been no change in the nature of the 
corn and rye, it by no means follows that when adminis- 
tered, as they are, in so dilute a form — a hogshead of slop, 
perhaps, containing no more nutriment than exists in a 
peck of Indian meal — that they constitute healthy food. It 
is like supporting a man daily on two spoonfuls of flour 
mixed with two gallons of water. The extreme dilution 
of the preparation, unfitted as it is for the gastric appa- 
ratus of ruminating animals, is probably one cause why 
their health suffers from its use. 

II. It is said " that cattle get the slop in the state of 
vinous fermentation, the same state in which bread is eaten, 
and therefore it must be healthy." 

How this assertion can be reconciled with the facts in 
the case, we are unable to determine. Bread is not eaten 
in a state of fermentation at all. Dough, by the process of 
■panary fermentation, acquires porosity, and by the action 
of heat is baked or converted into bread, as every house- 
wife knows, before it has passed into the acetous state, 
which spoils it. Slop is eaten by cows, indifferently, either 
in the vinous or the acetous state. In the vinous state, it 
probably contains alcohol, after the process of distillation ; 
and from the large quantities received into the system, and 



OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 303 

the debilitated condition of the digestive organs, there is at 
least probable evidence that the process of vinous fermen- 
tation is carried on in the stomach of the animal, by which 
alcohol is developed and separated from the water and ex- 
tractive matter with which it is combined. This opinion is 
strengthened by the fact that swine and cattle become in- 
toxicated by eating large quantities of apple pomice, though 
in a saccharine state ; and is further confirmed by the tes- 
timony of Denham and Clapperton, the intrepid African 
travellers. Speaking of the camels of Africa, they say, 
that they so frequently become intoxicated in consequence 
of eating freely of dates after drinking water, as seriously 
to diminish their health and strength. They make the state- 
ment as one of common occurrence in that country, and it 
it doubtless entitled to the fullest credence. Now, we 
know not how such results can be accounted for, except on 
the hypothesis named. If this is admitted, the stimulating 
properties of the slush, by the appetite which itself creates, 
will explain why cattle, that have acquired a relish for it, 
devour so voraciously this kind of food ; and its narcotic 
properties account in part, for its deleterious effects on the 
health of the animals that freely partake of it. But not 
to anticipate what more properly falls under another 
head, — 

III. It is frequently urged, by interested witnesses, that 
" cattle fed upon slop, with a proper quantity of hay and 
meal, will thrive better, and are more healthy than on other 
food." 

This, it will be observed, is a very indefinite statement. 
It would be a gratifying item of information to learn what 
quantity of still-slop with other food is " proper" for a 
cow. For while it might not be worth while to proscribe 
infinitesimal portions, we are homceopathists in this partic- 



304 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 

ular at least, believing that so far as the health of the ani- 
mal is concerned, the smaller the dose, the better the effect. 
But while there might be great diversity of opinion among 
milkmen as to the proper quantity, it is not ascertained 
that there is any difference in their practice. Any amount 
of testimony can be produced to prove that about a barrel 
per clay is the usual allowance, or as much as the animal 
will swallow. But whatever may be the effects of small 
portions of slop on the animal's health, there is one ob- 
jection to its use for dairy-cows, which is decisive and final ; 
any appreciable quantity acidifies the milk, which renders 
it of course unhealthy, and unfit for human nourishment. 

Some other particulars may here be considered, which 
though specially referring to the city of New-York, will 
be found to apply with little modification wherever the 
work of reform has commenced. 

The entire removal of the evil cannot, perhaps, be im- 
mediate, but must be gradual and progressive. When 
public attention was first called to this subject, nearly all the 
dairies from which our city was supplied with milk, were 
fed on distillery-slop. The investigations and disclosures 
which were then made of the impure, unhealthy, and in- 
nutritious quality of the milk thus produced, occasioned 
an immediate and extensive demand for a pure article, the 
product of natural food. To meet this demand at once, was 
certainly desirable, but, for reasons which will appear, it 
was impracticable to furnish the necessary supplies, and 
correct the evil as soon as it was discovered. 

In looking attentively at the subject, it will be seen, 
there were difficulties in the way, which lay a little be- 
hind the interests of those who were prosecuting the busi- 
ness. From the isolated situation of this city there is, un- 
fortunately, but very little good pasturage in its vicinity ; 






GRADUAL REFORM. 305 

and the little there was, of late years, has been chiefly put 
in requisition for other purposes. Hence the means of pro- 
ducing pure milk, instead of meeting the wants of our rap- 
pidly augumenting population, have actually decreased in 
the inverse ratio of the demand. There has been no period, 
within the last thirty years, in which the country in the 
immediate vicinage of New-York has been adequate to 
the supply of the inhabitants with wholesome food and 
pure milk. Such being the facts, the inducements to fur- 
nish inferior supplies, and to fraudulent practices, have been 
very great ; yet no effective measures have been adopted 
either to remove the temptations to abuse, or to protect the 
public against them. There are some evils consequent 
upon the condition of populous cities, such as bad air, and 
bad water, which must often be endured. But the evil 
under consideration is not inseparable from the location of 
the city ; and yet, for the reasons named, it is not surpris- 
ing that it exists. The dairyman, failing in a cheap and 
ready supply of pasturage and fodder for his cattle, found 
that still-slop would answer his purpose. And what was at 
first a matter of convenience or experiment, soon became an 
object of choice ; for he discovered that slop would pro- 
duce more milk, and at a cheaper rate than any other 
food. The quality of the milk, it is true, was greatly de- 
teriorated ; but this neither diminished the price nor the 
demand. The gains of whisky-milk, and not " the milk 
of human kindness," influenced his decision ; and, as the 
more slop the greater the profits, every selfish considera- 
tion urged him to secure a supply by patronizing the in- 
iquitous business of distillation, regardless of the incalcu- 
lable evils he would thereby inflict upon his fellow men. 
Slop ! slop ! slop ! was the only cry. Pure air, natural 
food, and suitable exercise for his cattle were no longer 

26* 



306 



OPPOSITION OF DISTILLERS. 



desired, because slop, pens, and bad air were found more 
profitable. The natural and healthy condition of the cows 
was thus reversed, for one most inhuman and unnatural. 
Herd after herd was driven from the fields, until all were 
" cribb'd, cabin'd, and confined," a reproach and a curse to 
the community. 

Such, as we have described, was the state of our milk 
dairies when first made a subject of public discussion. 
Their natural and healthy condition had, by gradual and 
unperceived degrees, given place to one most unnatural 
and pernicious. And the evil, as we have shown, stands 
not alone. It is a part of a formidable combination which, 
by the tacit acquiescence of the community, has for many 
years been sending far and deep its roots, until it has ac- 
quired fearful dimensions and strength. And now, to as- 
sail any part of this combination, is to rally a host in its 
defence. 

Distillers were opposed to reform, because, if success- 
ful, it would subtract one of the most essential elements 
of their prosperity. The following estimate of their pro- 
fits derived from the patronage of the slop-dairies, was 
made by a person long familiar with the business, and will 
place the distiller's interest in the subject in a clear light. 
The concern which furnishes the basis of this calculation, 
converts 600 bushels of grain into whisky per day. Each 
bushel of grain will yield three barrels of slop at nine cents 
per barrel — or a daily aggregate of one thousand eight 
hundred barrels, which will suffice for one thousand eight 
hundred cows. In the neighborhood of the distillery, there 
are about one thousand eight hundred cow-stalls; those 
supplied with troughs and gutters to convey the slop direct- 
ly to the pens, each rent for five dollars per annum ; and the 
stalls a little more distant, where the slop has to be carted, 



OPPOSITION OF DISTILLERS. 307 

at four dollars and fifty cents each — making the average, 
therefore, about four dollars and seventy-five cents. 

Annual rent of 1800 stalls, at $4 75 each, is $8,625 
1800 barrels of slop daily, at nine cents per 

barrel, amounts per year to 58,130 



$66,755 

Although we cannot question the fairness of the above 
estimates, we are not responsible for their accuracy. No 
exertions were spared to obtain correct data from proper 
sources ; but owing to the unwillingness, not to say incivili- 
ty, of some persons at the head of these establishments to 
give information, we were compelled to apply elsewhere ; 
on them, therefore, must rest the mistakes, if any such there 
be, whilst we, though innocent in the matter, when they 
are pointed out, will promptly acknowledge and correct 
them. As, however, we have no reason to doubt their 
fairness, they most clearly disclose the grounds of the dis- 
tiller's hostility. The slop-milkman's patronage is indis- 
pensable to his operations. Let the establishment refer- 
red to be annually taxed sixty-six thousand seven hundred 
and fifty-five dollars, and other distilleries according to 
their extent in the like ratio, and soon the whisky and 
the whisky-milk manufactories would die together. 

Since the foregoing was written, we have been unex- 
pectedly favored with a communication, from a source 
which we believe entitles the statements it contains to the 
fullest confidence. It was prepared by gentlemen who for a 
long series of years were practical distillers in this city ; 
and although no longer directly engaged in the business, 
in their present occupations possess, in an eminent degree, 
all the necessary facilities for obtaining correct informa- 
tion on the subject. The letter, besides furnishing new 



308 OPPOSITION OF DISTILLERS. 

facts which have an important bearing on the matter un- 
der consideration, confirms, as will be observed, the views 
we have elsewhere presented. We subjoin an extract, to 
which the reader's attention is invited. 

Respected Sir : 

In compliance with your request, we herewith submit 
a concise account of the liquor distilleries in the city of 
New-York and vicinity. The particulars stated, were in 
part derived from authentic sources of information to which 
we have access, but chiefly from our own long practical con- 
nection with the business of distillation, and may there- 
fore be relied upon as critically correct. One fact, we 
have observed, stands out with startling prominence, name- 
ly ; the grain distilleries now in operation amongst us, are 
chiefly sustained by the moral and temperate portion of the 
community, through the patronage which they extend to 
the slop-milk dairies. This conclusion is undeniable ; as, 
without their support, the business of distillation, in the 
present state of the markets, must be broken up. Corro- 
borative of this statement our investigations enable us to 
say, that six sevenths of all the milk consumed in this city, 
is produced from the unhealthy slush of the distilleries. 

You are aware of the filthy condition of the cow 
stables, and of the unnatural and injurious confinement to 
which the animals are subjected. But there are some cir- 
cumstances important to be known in regard to their man- 
agement, with which you are probably unacquainted. At 
some of the large slop dairies, the labor of feeding and 
milking the cattle, cleaning the milk vessels, etc, is chiefly 
performed by drunken thieves and vagabonds, who, after 
prowling through the city for plunder during the day, re- 
sort to the lofts of the cow-stables at night to lodge, and 
in return for this privilege, the dairymen exact from them 



RESPONSIBILITY OF DISTILLERS. 309 

the most menial services. The disgusting filthiness of these 
wretches in their persons and habits to whom is intrusted 
the care of the milk, is so well known to the dairymen, 
that for this and other considerations, they will not allow 
the use of this milk in their own families. These facts, sir, 
are too notorious to be disputed. 

We are in possession of an immense mass of informa- 
tion, which goes to prove that the use of slop-milk in fami- 
lies is little less than murderous ; but as time will not per- 
mit us now properly to arrange these materials, they must 
be the subject of another communication. 

Our present design is to state a few particulars in re- 
lation to the destruction of grain, and the production of 
whisky and slop by the different distilleries in the city of 
New-York and neighborhood. The tremendous calami- 
ties which they inflict upon the community, without any 
countervailing benefit, might well make angels weep. 
The ill-gotten gains of the distiller, who now proudly rolls 
in his carriage, is the price of blood. When will these 
destroyers of human life and human peace — of all, indeed 
that is exce'lenl and lovely and of good report — abandon 
their baleful work ? Its invariable tendencies are to per- 
vert the bounties of Providence into a means of increasing 
human wickedness, and to spread vice, degradation and 
death, wherever its influence extends. " It violates all 
those principles which require men to honor God, and do 
good to mankind ; it is manifestly hostile to both, as could 
be proved by millions of facts ; and no principle of religion, 
morality, or humanity, with a knowledge of the conse- 
quences, to which all now have access, will justify its con- 
tinuance." 

But to return. The following is an accurate state- 



1400 b 


ushels. 


1000 


do. 


500 


do. 


600 


do. 


600 


do. 


500 


do. 


500 


do. 


200 


do. 


250 


do. 



310 DESTRUCTION OF GRAIN. 

ment of the distilleries now ready for full operation, and the 
quantity of grain each can daily consume. 

Johnson & Son's distillery, Sixteenth-street, 
Spencer's two distilleries, at Greenwich Lane 

and Broome-street, 
Minturn's, Williamsburg, 
Schenck, Sneder & Co.'s, Brooklyn 
Cunningham & Harris's, Brooklyn, 
Robert Bach's, Williamsburg, 
Manly & Clark's, Brooklyn, . 
Charles Wilson's, Wallabout, 
Cole & Berry's, Williamsburg, 

Daily consumption, 5,550. 

The above, you will observe, exhibits the quantity of 
grain each distillery is capable of mashing per day ; and 
for the past seven years each has mashed the utmost its 
works would admit. The profit on whisky sales in pre- 
vious years, has been estimated to average from thirty to 
forty per cent. But at present, owing to the fall of price, 
the net profit has diminished to about the net amount of 
slop sales ; so that without turning the slop to good ac- 
count, the failure of the distilleries would be inevitable. A 
bushel of grain, weighing fifty-six pounds, will yield six- 
teen quarts of spirit ; the whole mashing as above stated 
being five thousand five hundred and fifty bushels, would, 
therefore, daily produce twenty-two thousand two hundred 
gallons of first proof whisky. As but few distilleries omit 
mashing more than twenty days in the year, the number of 
working days may be fairly put down at two hundred and 
ninety-two, which would give an aggregate of six millions, 

FOUR HUNDRED and EIGHTY-TWO THOUSAND, FOUR HUNDRED GAL- 
LONS of 'first proof 'whisky annually manufactured from grain 



DILUTION OF SLOP. 311 

in the city of New- York and vicinity. We may remark, 
that with the exception of Minturn's and Bach's distiller- 
ies, recently built, the capacity of which have not, we un- 
derstand, been increased, all the others commenced with 
mashing from one hundred to two hundred bushels a day. 
Johnson's distillery was a one hundred bushel house up to 
1832 ; at that time it was increased to four hundred bush- 
els ; in 1834 to one thousand bushels ; in 1840 to twelve 
hundred bushels; and during the past summer (1841) to 
one thousand four hundred bushels. And the other distil- 
leries were enlarged, at nearly corresponding periods. 

The quantity of whisky introduced into the city by the 
Hudson river and from the west, cannot be accurately as- 
certained ; but some idea of the vast amount may be in- 
ferred from the transactions of different houses in the arti- 
cle, and the examination of the bills of lading as the vessels 
arrive. It may, for example, suffice to state that Messrs. 
W. E. & J. Craft have, the present season, received from 
Hubb's distillery, Lawrenceberg, Indiana, rising of eleven 
thousand barrels of whisky ; and the tow-boats, which are 
constantly floating in, not unfrequently bring from two 
hundred to eight hundred barrels each. The immense 
influx of whisky from the the south and west, has so di- 
minished the price of the article in this market, that the 
proprietors of the city distilleries, in order to save their busi- 
ness from ruin, have resorted to a new expedient to turn 
the slop to advantage. For this purpose, some have con- 
nected a hot water pipe with the gutter which discharges 
the slop from the still, by which means the slop, when it 
reaches the cistern from which it is delivered to the milk- 
men, is diluted more than half, and sometimes more than 
two thirds, by the addition of the hot water. The pecuni- 
ary benefit resulting to the distiller by this process, is ob- 



312 DILUTION OF SLOP. 

vious. Whisky at present prices affords no profit, and is 
indeed a sinking concern; the profit must therefore be 
made on the swill. The undiluted slop of one thousand 
bushels of grain, at nine cents a barrel, would yield but 
ninety dollars, which would not defray the expense of the 
manufacture ; but when diluted with water so as to pro- 
duce one hundred and eighty dollars, it becomes a saving 
operation ; and in this way the distilling business in this 
city is at present supported. The logic of the milkmen 
on this subject is worthy of notice. They say, as they 
have to pay for water in the slop, it is right for them to ex- 
act pay, in the same proportion, for water in their milk. 
And after all, they insist that they have the worst of the 
bargain ; for their cows on this meager diet become ema- 
ciated and diseased, and many die. Besides, the smell and 
taste of the milk is so unpalatable, and even offensive, they 
are obliged to drug it, and thicken it with a preparation of 
chalk, white sugar, etc., which they carry with them in a 
junk bottle, to make it marketable. 

All the grain distilleries mentioned, are either directly 
or indirectly rectifying concerns, namely : — 

Schenck, Sneder & Co.'s rectifying house at the dis- 
tillery. 

Mark Spencer's rectifying house at the distillery. 

Johnson & Son's, with Lazarus, corner of Washington 
and Robinson streets. 

Cunningham & Harris's rectifying house at the dis- 
tillery. 

Robert Bach's, Brooklyn, near the ferry. 

Minturn, Wilson, Messrs. Manly & Clark, and Messrs. 
Cole & Berry, are each indirectly concerned with rectify- 
ing establishments. The plan of rectifying liquor, is one 
of the great advantages possessed by the city over the 



RECTIFYING LIQUOR. 313 

country distiller ; for by this process the whisky is made 
to assume any appearance, name or character which the 
vender or purchaser may desire ; and the distillers are thus, 
through their various agents, drummers, or salesmen, ena- 
bled to carry on, with impunity, the most fraudulent 
operations. 

Besides the distilleries mentioned, there are eight or ten 
others which distil spirit from molasses. Some of these, 
as Jacob Cram's, Messrs. Havens, Suydam & Co.'s, and 
others, are immense concerns. Their operations being ir- 
regular, we are unable to state the precise amount of liquor 
produced by them ; but it probably exceeds three thousand 
gallons of first proof spirit daily. As there is less of this 
kind of liquor used among us than of whisky, it is not im- 
portant here to enter upon particulars. These establish- 
ments, it is true, furnish no slop for cattle ; but, it should 
not be forgotten, that they are contributing to swell the river 
of death, which spreads desolation wherever it flows, and 
is daily ingulfing the hopes and happiness of thousands. 

In Philadelphia, there was a large grain distillery in 
Race-street, owned by the Messrs. Smiths, which mashed 
one thousand bushels of grain per day. The slop of the 
establishment was at first fed to cows, but the inhabitants 
refused to buy the milk produced in this way. It was 
therefore next fed to swine ; but after a thorough experiment, 
this also proved a losing operation, and the concern failed 
altogether, — evidently through the inability, chiefly, of the 
proprietors to turn the refuse to profitable account. But 
what appeared a private misfortune, was a manifest public 
benefit. The buildings are now removed, and the vicinity, 
which was notorious for intemperance, vice, and wretched- 
ness, is now as remarkable for its improved appearance, and 
the sober and reputable character of the population. 

27 



314 OPPOSITION OF SI.OPMEN. 

We conclude, sir, with the expectation of again recur- 
ring to other branches of the subject. Should the state- 
ments herewith submitted be called in question, in confir- 
mation of their general accuracy we are prepared to give 
our own, and any desirable amount of personal testimony. 
Wishing you every success in your philanthropic labors, 
with sentiments of respect we subscribe ourselves your 
friends and fellow citizens. 

As the facts and statistics presented in the foregoing 
communication require no comment, we will next briefly 
consider some of the difficulties in the way of the slop- 
milkmen which have not before been referred to. 

They were generally opposed to reform, because it 
would break up their establishments, subject them to in- 
conveniences, and greatly diminish their profits. But be- 
sides the influence of adverse interests, there were embar- 
rassing circumstances in the way, which required time and 
effort to remove. The people, hitherto, had indulged no 
misgivings on the subject. Mere want of information had 
made them a party to the vile imposition which was prac- 
tised upon them, and which they would continue to suffer 
unless its atrocities were forced upon their attention, and 
their energies were aroused to adopt prompt and decided 
measures for their own relief. To enlighten the public 
mind on the subject was, therefore, the first step ; and this 
was no sooner attempted, than loud and reiterated demands 
were made for an immediate correction of the evil. But 
this was impracticable. The mischief was deep-rooted and 
wide-spread. The error, which for years had grown with 
our growth and strengthened with our strength, could not 
be retraced in a single day. We have before adverted to 
the unfortunate condition of this city, in regard to pasturage ; 
but other difficulties were in the way, which deserve notice. 



DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED. 315 

To make thorough work, the dairymen must begin de 
novo. The old stock of cattle must be disposed of, for they 
were generally so diseased, and their teeth so broken off 
and affected with caries, that they were incapable of masti- 
cating such food as would produce good milk. Fresh 
stock, therefore, must supply the place of the old ; and in 
order thereto, the diseased cows must be knocked on the 
head, and their flesh thrown to the dogs, for which it was 
most fit, or be put in a condition for the butchers. And it 
should be remembered, that the latter is a bloating process, 
which can only be effected by the most unnatural means ; 
for it is impossible to fatten them on any thing but fluids. 

With the change of stock, it was required, moreover, 
that there be a corresponding change in their condition and 
sustenance. Instead of impure air, and hot, unnatural, 
stimulating slush, they must have pure air, pasturage and 
fodder, or such other food as is adapted to the complex di- 
gestive apparatus of herbivorous ruminating animals ; for 
all these conditions are essential to their health, and to the 
nutritive and wholesome quality of the secreted fluid. We 
glance at these particulars to show that many things which 
require time and exertion, are indispensable to a radical 
change in the system, even after the public mind is pre» 
pared for it. These facts may also aid us to appreciate the 
importance of what has already been accomplished. 

In their own vindication, many milkmen strenuously 
urged, as they will doubtless in other places, that the use 
of slop being unavoidable, we must quietly endure the 
evil as one inseparable from our peculiarly hampered situ- 
ation. But this position and its corollary has been dis-» 
proved by numerous facts. As near as can be ascertained, 
about fifty dairies in the city and vicinity have already re- 



316 PRACTICABILITY OF REFORM. 

linquished the use of slop and other improper food, and 
many others are making arrangements to follow their ex- 
ample. It cannot, therefore, with any show of truth, be 
longer insisted that intrinsic difficulties exist in the way, 
aside from the apathy of the people on the subject, and the 
cupidity of the slop milkmen. "What has been done to 
mitigate the evil, shows that more can be effected, and, in- 
deed, demonstrates the practicability of complete reform. 
Many persons who had been deterred hitherto by consci- 
entious scruples, have been encouraged to embark in the 
business by the prospects now afforded of conducting it on 
right principles. The means of bringing milk to the city 
from a distance have been projected, and carried, after full 
experiment, into thorough effect. And as the facilities of 
our communication with the country increase, an abundant 
supply will flow in from various quarters, and no deficiency 
need be apprehended. 

But without enlarging on particulars of this kind, it 
will be conceded, enough has been clone to establish two 
essential points, viz., the existence of the evil, and the 
practicability of reform, not only in this city, but wherever 
it prevails. The evil here, as facts show, has evidently 
been arrested. Many have been induced to think and act 
in relation to it. What had long been endured, unnoticed 
and unquestioned, has now to conflict with antagonist 
principles, which, if thoroughly aroused into action, will be 
found incomparably more formidable than anything which 
can be brought against them. Nor is the subject now re- 
garded in a physical point of view merely ; conscience, 
which had long lain dormant, has been awakened. And 
we may be allowed to notice in this connection, which we 
do with peculiar pleasure, that several of the pure dairies, 



SABBATH DESECRATION. 317 

in the distribution of milk, for three years past, have 
avoided the desecration of the Sabbath.* The custom of 

* As the traffick in milk, on the Sabbath, is one of the most fre- 
quent, annoying and unnecessary public profanations of sacred time 
amongst us, we cannot dismiss the subject without an additional re- 
mark. 

The custom of carrying, buying and selling milk on Sunday, is, 
as is well known, the reproach of this community. On Sabbath 
morning, instead of the stillness which indicates a cessation from 
secular employments, the sacred day is ushered in with the rattling 
of several hundred milk wagons, driven at the top of their speed 
over the rough pavements, accompanied, with the shouts of as many 
hundred milkmen ; and from that early hour the din and disturbance 
are kept up until ten or eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and are again 
repeated, from three or four o'clock in the afternoon until evening. 
No street, lane, or alley escapes theannoyance ; for nearly every fam- 
ily is visited, and suffers not only the discordant clamor of its own 
milkman, but probably also that of twenty others who successively 
supply the different households in the same neighborhood, besides the 
incessant clatter of those passing and repassing to various parts of 
the city. Other desecrations and disturbances of the day by business 
or pleasure, by rail-roads, steam-boats, etc., are comparatively infre- 
quent and local ; so that the great mass of the people, if they choose, 
may avoid them ; but this occurs every Sabbath in the year, and ne- 
cessarily annoys every family. 

This traffick has been, and by many is still, defended as a work of 
necessity, and therefore not a violation of the Sabbath. We remark 
that until within a few years the city was supplied with a quality of 
milk which could not at certain seasons be preserved fit for use over 
four or five hours; — if the article, therefore, was indispensable 
on the Sabbath, there was a valid reason for its purchase on that day. 
But circumstances have changed. More than three years ago, many 
pure dairymen, from a sense of duty, abandoned the use of slop for 
their cattle, and also the traffick in milk on the Sabbath ; and to 
meet the wants of their patrons, they furnish a double supply of 
milk on Saturday, the article being of a quality which can be pre- 
served perfectly sweet until Monday. The necessity, therefore, of 
trafficking in milk on the Sabbath, having long since ceased to exist, 
the profanation of the day by this custom should have ceased with it. 

The case of infants, who are fed on milk diet, may, perhaps, be 
27* 



318 



SABBATH DESECRATION. 



trafficking in milk on the Lord's day, is now proved to be 
as unnecessary as it is sinful. Thousands can now testify 
from their own experience that it can be dispensed with 
throughout the year without injury or inconvenience either 
to the purchasers or venders. Thus developing a new and 
beautiful feature in the cause of reform, which alone should 
strongly commend it to the patronage of a Christian com- 
munity. 

considered peculiar, and require that milk for their use, should be 
obtained fresh on Sunday. This is a mistake. No such case exists,' 
nor can any be imagined in which pure milk at any season, cannot 
be preserved sweet through the Sabbath, and in a condition perfectly 
healthy for the most delicate infant. If inconvenience has here been 
experienced, it is solely owing to the neglect, of servants, or other cul- 
pable mismanagement. We speak from personal knowledge on the 
subject, after a trial of more than three years. And within the same 
period, the fact has been settled by the experience of hundreds of 
families in all conceivable cases. Whatever, therefore, may have 
been the exigency in former years, it is now fully demonstrated that 
thetraffick in milk on the Sabbath is a desecration of sacred time 
for which there exists not the shadow of an apology. 

We only add, that the dairymen who have, for conscience sake, 
at pecuniary sacrifices and through many discouragements, carried 
out their plans so as to furnish pure milk, and at the same time 
avoid the profanation of the day, have not, we regret to state, re- 
cieved from the moral and reputable, the support they had a right to 
expect. We know reputed Christian households, and even clergy- 
men's families, who have discarded these dairymen, because they re- 
fused to sell milk on the Sabbath ; and others, who now withhold 
their patronage for the same reason. We may charitably attribute 
their conduct to mistaken views of the supposed necessity in their 
case ; but this will neither atone for the evil, nor undo the mischief 
of their example on those who have no regard for the Sabbath, as a 
Divine Institution. The traffick in slop, and also its cartage on the 
Sabbath, is another of the evils of this system, — but we cannot here 
enlarge upon it. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

FRAUDS AND IMPOSITIONS IN THE SLOP-MILK SYSTEM. 

Deceptive practices of dairymen, illustrated by facts. — False labels 
on milk-carts. — Intrigue with servants. — Professors of religion 
engaged in the slop-milk business. — Facilities for deception. — In- 
fluence of half-slop-men. — Their management. — Price of pure 
milk. — Price of slop-milk. — The poor, willing to pay a fair price 
for good milk. — Price no difficulty with the wealthy. — Feeding 
cattle with slop, the result of choice, not of necessity. — Appeal to 
those in the business. — Inexcusableness of apathy on the subject. — 
Appeal to mothers. — Also to the farmers of Long Island and New 
Jersey, and of the counties of Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, 
Orange, etc. 

Some men in the milk business, very reluctantly forego 
the profits of slop-feeding, and rather than lose their cus- 
tomers, resort to various subterfuges and evasions. It is 
an unpleasant duty to advert to the impositions which are 
practised ; but as they are wrong in themselves, and of 
frequent occurrence, it appears right to notice them, in or- 
der to guard the public against their repetition. Many 
have been reported, but a notice of a few of the most com- 
mon must suffice. 

A gentleman says his milkman assured him that he fed 
no slop ; and as no evidence appeared to the contrary, he 
felt bound to believe him. But passing a distillery some 
months afterwards, curiosity induced him to stop, and, to 
his surprise, he saw his milkman busy among his cows. 
As the truth flashed across his mind, he charged the milk- 
man with deceiving him, who promptly replied : " Every 
word I said was true, sir ; I told you J fed no slop ; and 



320 



DECEPTIVE PRACTICES. 



by the help of the gutter, you see, which leads from the 
still-house to the stables, my cows feed, themselves /" 

Another person states, that on questioning his milkman, 
he admitted that he fed slop, but said he had one cow, his 
best cow, which refused to eat them, the milk of which he 
would bring him, at the additional charge of two cents a 
quart. To this proposition the gentleman assented, and 
a half-gallon can was daily filled and duly brought. But 
the quality of the milk seemed not to be improved, and the 
family were inclined to believe, either that there was no 
difference in the milk or that they were imposed upon. 
The matter thus passed on for several weeks, when the 
gentleman happening to be in his kitchen one day when 
the milk was brought in, its rank and nauseating smell 
created a suspicion that all was not fair, which accident 
soon after fully confirmed ; for he eventually learned, that 
some half dozen families besides his own were regularly 
supplied with the reputed pure milk out of the same half- 
gallon measure at the advanced price — all the dupes of their 
own good-natured credulity, and the milkman's dishonesty. 

Another mode of deception, which has been carried to 
great extent, is the practice of putting false and equivocal 
labels upon the milk-carts and wagons. It is ever one 
of the elements of knavery to conceal, if possible, its de- 
formity by a fair exterior. Why do not these men tell the 
truth, and put on their carts, " Whisky milk from Johnson's 
distillery, Sixteenth-street ;" or from " Spencer's distillery, 
Greenwich-village," or " Minturn's distillery, Williams- 
burg," or " Wilson's distillery, Wallabout," or " Sneder and 
Schenck's distillery, Brooklyn;" or any other of the numer- 
ous whisky establishments in operation round about the city ? 
The question carries with it its own answer. The literal facts 
in the case would spoil their milk market ; and in order to 



FALSE LABELS. 321 

retain their customers and beguile others, they resort to the 
grossest misrepresentations, and very many are thereby 
deceived. Some of the labels on these slop-milk concerns, 
are, " Pure country milk from Bloomingdale," or " New- 
town," or " Long Island," or " New Jersey," etc. ; others 
are marked, " Pure milk Dairy," " Washington Dairy," 
" Columbian Dairy," etc., when if followed to their homes, 
instead of conducting you to the pure air, and green pas- 
tures of some rural district, would introduce you to the 
filth and stench of cow-pens and whisky-distilleries. 

The following is another specimen of this kind of im- 
position. A slop-milkman whose cows were the unwil- 
ling patrons of a large liquor distillery in the neighbor- 
hood of the city, procured a wagon of the same fashion, 
and painted and lettered, excepting the number, precisely 
like those belonging to the Jamaica Milk Dairy, which at 
that time was in repute for the excellence of its milk, so 

that the label read, "Jamaica Milk Dairy, No. ," the 

figures being omitted. The whole thing was most art- 
fully calculated to deceive into the belief that the wagon 
distributed milk from the Jamaica, Long Island, Milk 
Dairy. The milkman, on being reproved for this con- 
structive fraud, said : " You don't read right. Jamaica 
Milk Dairy 1 No ! That is the way to read it." And 
laughing at the success of his imposition, remarked : " If 
people are deceived, it is their own fault." 

Another of these milk dealers whose cows were penned 
and fed at a city distillery, caused " Astoria, L. I.," the let- 
ters being the initials of Long Island, to be conspicuously 
painted on his wagon. Being charged with the deception, 
he replied that the inscription was correct, meaning " As- 
toria, L. I." (lie). What other proof need we of the ini- 
quity of the slop-milk business, even in the estimation of 



322 INTRIGUE WITH SERVANTS 

those who, being engaged therein, are best acquainted 
with it 1 If such tricks are necessary to sustain it, were 
there no other evidences, here is demonstration that it is 
impossible for an honest man to continue in so vile an oc- 
cupation. But the public having become acquainted with 
this kind of imposition, it is now much less practised than 
formerly ; for there was no motive to continue it longer 
than the people were deceived. 

We may mention still another dishonorable expedient, 
which is the more deserving of notice, because less liable 
to suspicion or detection. We refer to the intrigue of slop- 
men with the servants in those families from which they 
have been discarded, in order to recover their lost milk 
customers. It is w r ell known that most of the family ser- 
vants are foreigners, and very many of them Irish ; and 
that many of the slop dairymen, and still greater numbers 
who distribute that kind of milk, are also Irish. We are 
assured, that on account of the superior influence which 
natives of that country can exert over their countrywomen, 
who are extensively retained as domestics, their services as 
milk distributors are peculiarly valuable. The manage- 
ment is to induce the servants to favor their interests, to the 
prejudice of the pure milkman. And this is not so diffi- 
cult, even in respectable and intelligent families, where 
household matters are chiefly intrusted to servants, as might 
at first be imagined. If the slop-milk has been discarded 
for the product of a pure dairy, then their object is to pro- 
duce the impression that no advantage has been gained by 
the exchange, and having the entire management in their 
hands, nothing is more easy, when they are so disposed, 
than to create dissatisfaction, in the first instance, which 
being strengthened by their reiterated complaints, at length 
results in the dismissal of the new, and perhaps the re- 



ILLUSTRATED. 323 

instatement of the old milkman. Among the tricks resort- 
ed to for this purpose, is the dilution of the pure milk with 
water below the standard of slop-milk ; by neglect or ex- 
posure to cause it to become prematurely sour, so that it is 
unfit for use ; by complaints of deficient measure, irregular 
delivery, or incivility on the part of the dairyman; also of 
impurities in the milk, etc. A pure milkman, in whose 
veracity we have entire confidence, states that he lost sev- 
eral of his best customers, by the discovery of some animal 
ordure as a sediment at the bottom of a milk vessel, and 
which he could not doubt was put there by an Irish ser- 
vant girl, who, after various other unsuccessful attempts, 
succeeded in procuring his discharge by this filthy expedi- 
ent, the knowledge of which being spread to other families, 
entirely ruined his milk market in a most respectable 
neighborhood. Strange as these discoveries may appear, 
they will only be regarded as improbable by those who are 
unacquainted with the power of national predilections and 
prejudices, especially when strengthened by the unity of a 
common faith. 

But there is one other particular, which, as we would 
" nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice," cannot 
be omitted, although we recur to it with deeper regret than 
to any other it has appeared our duty to notice. We al- 
lude to the fact, that there are some men of professed Chris- 
tian principles, who are extensively engaged in producing 
slop-milk, and who resort to many of the deceptive mea- 
sures, and underhand schemes, to impose upon the public, 
which are too generally characteristic of the business. A 
single incident may show how difficult it is for a man of 
integrity and sound conscience to be engaged in this occu- 
pation. Some gentlemen, being informed of the disgust- 
ing filthiness consequent upon stabling cows and feeding 



324 TEMPTATIONS TO FEAUD. 

them upon slop, called upon the proprietor of one of these 
concerns, in order to judge for themselves of the truth of 
these allegations. The premises in question were contigu- 
ous to a distillery, and in the rear of them, and round about, 
were other stables which presented most repulsive exhibi- 
tions of filth and offensive accumulations of excrementitious 
matter. The slopman, apprised of the intended visit, had 
subjected his own cattle and pens to a thorough lustration ; 
and having in this condition been inspected by his friends, 
he adroitly induced them to retire, without extending their 
survey to other establishments, filled with admiration at the 
good order and degree of neatness which prevailed. The 
dairyman afterwards justified his management on the 
ground, that his interest required him to sustain the general 
credit of the slop-milk system. 

Fort he purpose of meeting the wants of their numerous 
customers, some in the slop business pretend to supply 
both kinds of milk, on a large scale. In some instances 
both kinds are distributed from the same wagons, an d 
in others, different wagons are employed. But the facili- 
ties and temptations to the abuse of confidence are so 
strong, and frauds are so often practised without detection, 
that the confidence of the public, with few exceptions, 
should be withdrawn from them. It is to be feared there 
are those in every business who, for the love of gain, will 
not be very scrupulous about the means of obtaining it. 
And if men in the business in question, with the evidence 
of its iniquity before their eyes, will still persist in it, and 
are determined to do so in spite of their convictions, they 
show they have no principle in the matter, and ought not 
to be trusted. 

The influence of the half-slopmen, is even more obnox- 
ious to reform, than avowed hostility. They put on a 



HALF SLOPMEN. 325 

friendly garb for dishonorable and selfish purposes. Know- 
ing what is right, they choose the wrong, and endeavor 
to exculpate themselves on the plea that the public will not 
pay a fair price for pure milk, so that they are compelled 
to adapt the quality of the article to the price paid for it. 
In other words, they will cheat a customer, rather than di- 
minish their enormous profits, or lose him. With what 
system of ethics such habits of business may be reconciled, 
it is not important here to inquire. It is sufficient to know, 
if a man's occupation honestly pursued will not afford 
him a competence, it is his duty to engage in some other. 
But how do these men know that the public will not pay 
a fair price for good milk 1 Have they made the trial ? 
No : but others have, and in every instance have been lib- 
erally patronized, which proves that their statement is un- 
founded. Milk produced from natural food, as hundreds 
in this city are prepared to testify, is actually cheaper for 
all culinary and other uses, at eight cents per quart, than 
is slop-milk, setting aside its deleterious properties, at three 
cents per quart. In every instance that we have known, 
such has been the decision, when both qualities have been 
subjected to a fair experiment ; and yet about the same 
price is paid for both kinds. 

But it may be useful to show how many of these half- 
slopmen manage. If pure milk is demanded, they promise 
a supply at an advance of twenty-five per cent, which 
being agreed to, so vile and miserable an article is furnish- 
ed, that their customers have good reason to believe they 
have gained nothing by the change. This opinion the 
slopmen are willing to strengthen ; for to the extent the 
people are deceived into the belief that one kind of milk is 
as good as another, they become indifferent to the whole 
matter ; and the work of reform, so far as they are con- 

28 



326 PRICE OF PURE MILK. 

cerned, not only ceases, but their influence is thrown on the 
wrong side, and goes to support and perpetuate the evils 
of which they at once become the patrons, the dupes, and 
the victims. It is as painful to mention these facts, as it is 
pleasing to notice others of an opposite character. By the 
sudden revolution of public opinion, consequent upon the 
disclosures in relation to this subject, some good men have 
been surprised in an occupation, to which their principles 
are opposed. But as they manifest a determination to lose 
no time in the arrangements necessary to a change in their 
dairies, and in effecting it may be subjected to inconveni- 
ences and pecuniary sacrifices, they are entitled to the con- 
fidence of our citizens, and should receive from them suit- 
able encouragement and support. 

We have before alluded to the advantages which, in 
an economical view, are consequent upon the use of pure 
milk ; and we recur to the subject for the purpose of sub- 
mitting a few considerations which have not been elsewhere 
presented. 

The price of milk, like that of many other articles of 
sustenance, is affected by the same causes. At the present 
time, a pure article produced from natural food, rich and 
healthy, cannot be brought to our doors for less than six 
cents per quart. This is, of course, the minimum price, 
from which the venders, if they supply an honest article, 
cannot deviate. But it may be inquired, What assurances 
are given that the pure dairymen do not dilute their milk ? 
We may not attempt to impart to other minds the confi- 
dence which we from personal acquaintance are enabled to 
repose in the integrity of those now engaged in the busi- 
ness ; but independent ofthese considerations it is not the 
interest of these dealers to dilute their milk, and it is their 
interest to avoid the lowering system altogether, by fur- 



PRICE OF SLOP-MILK. 327 

nishing a perfectly pure article.* Their patronage and 
success depend upon the superiority of their milk. To 
dilute it, therefore, or to deteriorate the quality in any 
way, will most assuredly defeat their own object. Setting 
principle aside, honesty, with these men, is not only the 
best, but the only policy that will succeed. As men of 
common sense, who understand their own interests, they 
know if they fail to furnish pure milk, nothing can save 
them ; they must fail altogether. They are virtually pledg- 
ed to the public in the penalty of a total failure in their busi- 
ness, to supply rich, unadulterated milk, in distinction from 
the weak, vapid, unwholesome and unpalatable slush of 
the slopmen. And thus far they have nobly redeemed their 
pledge. We have, therefore, the strongest guaranty the case 
at present admits, that these men will furnish pure milk, for it 
is their pecuniary interest to do so ; whilst a failure to do 
this, or deliberate deception, will be the signal for their re- 
jection and complete defeat. 

But it is very different, as will at once be seen, with the 
slopmen. The author was informed by a dealer who had 
relinquished the business, that he knew one man who at 
his different stands sold twenty -five gallons of water for milk 
per day. This milk and water system enables these men 
to sell milk at three, four, five, or six cents per quart, as 
may happen best to suit their own pockets, or the desires 
of their customers ; a circumstance which they do not fail to 
turn to their advantage ; and in order to do this, they have 
only to reduce the quantity of milk in a quart, and make up 
the measure with water and any thing else which will give 

* With some of these dealers it is a matter of principle to exclude 
every drop of water from the milk, even to the rinsing of the pails af- 
ter milking, so that they may be enabled to affirm that the milk is 
perfectly pure. 



328 PRICE OF SLOP-MILK. 

it the appearance and consistence of milk. Hitherto these 
impositions have been encouraged by the ignorance which 
has prevailed on the subject. But who does not see, setting 
aside all other considerations, that to buy such milk is the 
worst imaginable economy 1 If we prefer watered milk, 
let us water it ourselves, and then we will know what we 
pay for. We would not patronize the butcher, the baker, 
or the grocer who, professing to sell his articles a cent or 
two less, gave us but eight or ten, instead of sixteen ounces 
in the pound ; for we know that false weights and measures 
are indictable offences, and we would feel indignant at such 
knavery. And is there any more profit, or principle, or 
wisdom in countenancing these impositions in the milkman, 
than in the butcher or baker ? Are w T e not sinning with- 
out motive — against motive — in buying this diluted and de- 
leterious slush, when pure undiluted milk can be obtained 
for about the same price 1 Let none say, the little milk we 
use will make no difference. The ocean is made up of 
drops. The still-slop business is composed of half pints, 
pints and quarts ; and so long as the moral and respectable 
tolerate it, this vile system, with all its evils, will continue 
to be inflicted upon us. 

It is not surprising that persons who have no opportu- 
nity of deciding for themselves, or have had no evidence 
on which they could rely as to the relative qualities of 
milk, should demur at an advanced price. But let the dif- 
ference of quality be distinctly understood, and even the 
poorer classes, who are usually good economists, and among 
whom the saving of a cent is a consideration, will be found 
the fast friends of the desired reform. It is truly their in- 
terest pecuniarily, which they are not slow T to perceive, to 
buy a rich, healthy and nutritious article, though it cost a 
little more, rather than diluted, unwholesome milk at any 



PRICE NO DIFFICULTY. 329 

price. Several cases among them have come to our know- 
ledge, in which families have done without milk, and cer- 
tainly very wisely, rather than use diseased whisky dregs. 
A poor mechanic in Greenwich village, having lost a child 
in August last, as the physician decided, by the use of slop- 
milk obtained from the distilleries in the neighborhood, and 
finding it inconvenient to procure such as he desired, his 
family have dispensed with the use of any ever since. The 
desire to obtain, and the willingness to pay for a good arti- 
cle, is illustrated in the case of a laboring man, who on his 
return from his daily toil, brings his milk more than a 
mile at the usual price of good milk, rather than pay half 
the price for distillery milk next door to his dwelling. 

In regard to the wealthier part of the population, it 
cannot be necessary to enlarge. With them the quality of 
the milk, not the price, is generally the chief consideration. 
We dare not here venture to repeat the extravagant price 
which some have declared they would be willing to give, 
rather than return to the use of slop-milk. It is sufficient 
to know that with them, when they fully understand the 
subject, there is no difficulty. Some of them now mani- 
fest deep interest in the reform, and are exerting themselves 
to give it success. 

From all therefore which has yet appeared, we cannot 
avoid the conclusion, that feeding cattle with slop, is inva- 
riably, and in every instance, the result of deliberate choice, 
and not of necessity ; and the plea that the public will not 
pay for pure milk, is insincere. Those who persist in the 
use of slop, do so, not because other food for their cattle 
cannot be obtained, or that such is indispensable to their 
business and the support of their families ; but because the 
love of money in them is stronger than humanity and con- 
science. Not that we believe they indulge unkind and 

28* 



330 APPEAL TO DISTILLERS, 

malicious feelings, or that they would not rejoice in gain- 
ing their object without inhumanity to brutes and injury 
to their fellow men. But habits of evil, though they may 
not always deaden the sympathies, generally pervert the 
judgment and benumb the conscience; it is not surprising, 
therefore, that many attempt to justify themselves in the 
whole matter. There must, however, be no compromise 
of principle. Truth is truth, and will not bend to our 
wishes. That business cannot be innocent whose entire 
tendencies are to evil. No plea can justify its pursuit. It 
must be abandoned. 

And is there a reflecting man engaged in the business, 
who can persuade himself that it is right 1 Nay, after all 
the light which has been poured upon the subject, is there 
one who can doubt that it is wrong 1 The moral sense of 
mankind has long since decided, that to take the bread from 
the hungry, and to convert it into still-slop and whisky, is 
a grievous offence against God, and high treason against 
humanity. And until the nature of things shall change, 
this decision will never be reversed. The burning tide, 
like the desolating lava, destroys all it touches. Property, 
character, happiness and intellect, fall before it. Pauper- 
ism, crimes, wretchedness and disease follow in its train ; 
whilst despair and death, temporal and eternal, prove that 
upon it rests the malediction of heaven. Oh ! it is a hor- 
rible business, which now admits of no palliation. And can 
the man who is an accessory, who gains his livelihood by 
supporting it, be innocent 1 Yet this is the business of the 
slop-milkmen. They pay from three to fifteen dollars a 
day to sustain this process of death, which in many cases 
must entirely cease but for their patronage. Through their 
agency, the work of destruction, otherwise imperfect, is 
made complete. It is not sufficient that the nutritious grain 



VENDERS, AND CONSUMERS. 331 

is converted into poison for men, but the residuum having 
diseased the meat for our tables, also diseases the milk for 
our children, by which the health and lives of multitudes 
are annually destroyed. 

If these facts are undeniable, and we fearlessly chal- 
lenge their disproval, will any person who has an interest 
in them, longer remain indifferent 1 Can you continue so, 
and feel that you have discharged your duty to God, to 
your families, and to the community ? Are you not bound 
by the most powerful obligations to wash your hands from 
all participation in so great an evil ? Be persuaded to as- 
certain the facts in your own case without delay ; for while 
your every day patronage supports the business, you are 
participants therein, and though you suffer, it were folly to 
complain. By whom is the abomination sustained, if not 
by yourselves ? and it will sink but for your support. See 
to it, therefore, that your conscience is clear in the matter — 
that your support is not relied upon, and this fountain of 
iniquity will be sealed up. It is a self-evident proposition, 
that the power of correcting the evil is in the hands of the 
consumer. And until you exert that power, you will 
suffer, and may hope, but in vain, for deliverance. 

To Mothers, the subject appeals in tones which can 
scarcely fail to reach their hearts. It belongs to a depart- 
ment which is exclusively domestic, and over which they 
have undisputed control. As without their concurrence 
nothing can be effectually done, so by their united action, 
this great evil will be speedily and entirely removed. 
Mothers ! the proposed reform is practicable ; and the 
power of correcting it, is by Divine Providence intrusted 
to your hands. Is not this alone sufficient to arouse your 
energies, and enlist all your influence in so important a 
work 1 The subject involves considerations of immense 



332 APPEAL TO MOTHERS. 

interest to your own offspring ; and after a review of the 
facts which have been presented in this volume, can other 
motives be necessary to induce you at once to discharge 
your duty in relation to it 1 If you were required to step 
out of your appropriate spheres of usefulness, or to subject 
yourselves to severe privations and exhausting toils for 
months and years together, in order to rid the community 
of so great and grievous an evil, would not the consumma- 
tion be an ample reward ? But nothing of this kind is re- 
quired. That which demands your attention is a home 
concern ; it is under your own roof — under your eye — 
within reach of your hand, perhaps on the table before you. 
Cause that filthy, diseased and diluted milk, of which your- 
self and family are about to partake, to be put into the 
place for which it is most fit — the gutter ; and determine 
that so long as you are mistress of your dwelling, no more 
of the vile stuff shall enter it. Having done this, demand 
pure milk ; — be certain that it is pure, be satisfied with 
nothing else, and you will be supplied. It will flow in 
abundantly, healthful, and pure, and nourishing as nature 
herself has prepared it; and to your instrumentality will 
belong the honor of preserving the health and lives of 
thousands of innocent children, and of terminating an evil 
which has so long been the reproach of the community. 

To regard the subject merely as one of pecuniary cal- 
culation or of physical interest, is to degrade it. Every 
intelligent mind will discover that it takes a vastly wider 
range. In its relations and consequences it is one of hu- 
manity, morality and religion. But it is not our design to 
dwell on these topics. It is sufficient here to show that 
there is that in it, which peculiarly commends it to a 
mother's heart. Maternal affection, and all those beautiful 
and benevolent instincts which are woman's characteristics, 



APPEAL TO FARMERS. 333 

should incite her to consider this subject as her own. 
Where is the mother, even if uneducated and barbarian, 
that would permit her helpless and dependent infant to 
draw its sustenance from the breast of a filthy, squalid and 
diseased nurse, whose own nourishment and habits of life 
were most unnatural and revolting ? And shall the refined 
and intellectual mother suffer, as it regards her offspring, 
practices still more unnatural and pernicious ? Do the 
relations of cause and effect cease, when the infant is nour- 
ished on the milk of an animal whose condition, in every 
particular which can affect the health of the child, is more 
distempered and disgusting than any thing we can conceive 
of in human form ? But we are persuaded that it is un- 
necessary to press farther these considerations to interest 
her in this work. Woman must put off the most lovely 
attributes of her nature, extinguish every spark of mater- 
nal feeling, prove recreant to her domestic trusts, and for- 
get her obligations to the observance of those laws which 
the Author of nature has indelibly impressed on her own 
being for the benefit of her offspring, ere, with a know- 
ledge of the evils which flow from this vile system, she will 
feel released from doing all in her power for their removal. 

As a few local references cannot impair the general 
interest, and may increase the usefulness of the work, we 
will conclude this chapter by calling the attention of farm- 
ers in the vicinity of New-York, to a brief statement in re- 
lation to the producing of milk for market. This is a 
business in which, it is believed, many of them may en- 
gage with great profit to themselves, and advantage to 
their fellow citizens. 

It is known to you, and as we have elsewhere remark- 
ed, the city of New-York is unfortunate in having very 
little good pasturage in its vicinity. This scarcity, doubt- 



334 APPEAL TO FARMERS. 

less, led to the use of distillery slop and other improper 
articles as substitutes for the natural food of milch-cows, 
and consequently to their confinement in pens. But what 
was at first a matter of convenience or experiment, eventu- 
ally became an object of choice ; for it was found that this 
kind of sustenance for cattle would produce more milk, at 
less cost to the dairyman, than any other. Gain being the 
object of those in the business, and the more of this kind of 
food the greater the profits, it is not surprising that en- 
deavors should be made to secure a constant supply, or 
that the use of slop became general. And such at present 
are the facts. The natural condition of the animals is re- 
versed. Deprived of proper food, pure air and exercise, 
they have become diseased. The milk, of course, is dis- 
eased ; and, as proved by facts, and the testimony of our 
most respectable physicians, is impure, unhealthy and in- 
nutritious. The public, having to some extent been in- 
formed on the subject, there is now a growing demand for 
pure milk produced from natural food. Such, briefly, 
being the attitude of this community in relation to the 
business, a fine opening is presented to men of enterprise 
who live in grass regions, within a convenient distance of 
the city, to embark in it. 

The quantity of milk required for the daily supply of 
the cities of New-York and Brooklyn, as near as can be 
ascertained, is about fifteen thousand gallons. This, at the 
average price of six cents per quart, amounts to three 
thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars per day, or in 
round numbers to fifteen hundred thousand dollars a year, 
in the profits of which you may share, by enterprise and 
industry. Why should you not engage in this branch of 
business ? Many of you are the proprietors of some of the 
finest grazing farms in the world, which are already stock- 



APPEAL TO FARMERS. 335 

ed with cows. These you can turn to immediate and profit- 
able account. The conversion of your milk into butter or 
cheese, with the loss of the labor of making it, will not pay 
more than two cents a quart, for which you may realize 
six cents in these cities. Is not this sufficient pecuniary 
inducement for you to engage in the business, aside from 
the humane consideration that such an enterprise will 
probably be the means of saving the lives of thousands of 
innocent children, and of warding off numerous evils 
which now afflict and oppress the population ? 

But the question here may arise, How is milk to be con- 
veyed from a distance to New-York 1 Those who are 
most familiar with the geography of your respective local- 
ities, and the ordinary facilities for transportation, can best 
answer the inquiry. And yet a remark or two on this 
point may be useful. Places remote from rail-road and 
steam navigation, may not be able to engage in the 
business. But many things which appear difficult, if not 
impracticable at first, will yield to enterprise and perse- 
verance. Most of the milk which now supplies this city, 
is daily brought in wagons across rivers from three to 
ten miles. Similar exertions would place most of the milk 
produced in a wide range of circumjacent country, within 
reach of rail-roads and steam-boats. Long Island and the 
border counties of New Jersey, already possess superior 
advantages in both these respects, which could be imme- 
diately improved to a much greater extent than at present. 
The construction of the New-York and Albany rail-road, 
will soon confer the like facilities on the counties of West- 
chester, Putnam, Dutchess, and the adjoining portions of 
Connecticut ; whilst the counties west of the Hudson river, 
Orange, Sullivan and Rockland, are already intersected by 
a rail-road which, in connection with steam navigation, 



336 APPEAL TO FARMERS. 

has brought these exuberantly rich grazing regions so 
near the city, that we may soon expect milk from the far 
famed dairies of Goshen.* If the operations are too ex- 
tensive and complex for individual management, compa- 
nies can be formed, which may employ persons to collect 
the milk from the dairies in season for the rail-cars and 
steam-boats ; and when it arrives at the depot in the city, 
wagons should be ready for its distribution. Milk, in this 
way, could be conveyed any distance, with less agitation, 
than is common with that now brought to the city. 

The supply of this city with milk, you perceive, is at 
present an immense concern. And yet on account of its 
extremely bad quality, the inhabitants use no more than they 
can help. Witha plentiful supply of a pure, healthy and 
nutritious article, the consumption would probably soon 
double. Connect with this, the rapidly augmenting popu- 
lation of the city, and no fears need be entertained for en- 

♦ Since the above was written, the Author's anticipations have 
been fully realized. He has just been favored with a sample of 
I milk from Goshen, Orange county, seventy miles from the city. It 
j was brought fifty miles by the Erie rail-road to Piermont, and thence 
; twentyjmiles to New- York ; the whole distance, at present, is accom- 
' plished in five or six hours. What an exhaustless source of health 
and comfort is here brought to the doors of our citizens ! We are 
i gratified to learn, that a company is already formed, and arrange- 
| ments on an extensive scale are in actual progress, for the purpose 
' of bringing milk to the city from the counties above mentioned, and 
that the specimen received, is the first fruit of the enterprise. Du- 
ring the warm weather, it is designed to convey the milk in ice, and 
also to furnish the patrons of the concern with refrigerators, con- 
structed on an improved plan, for the convenience of families. We 
are not prepared, by analysis, to say what will be the average quality 
of the milk, as but one sample has been submitted to examination ; 
but we risk little in the opinion, that it will partake of the excellence 
for which the butter and cheese of that region have been long re- 
markable. 



APPEAL TO FARMERS. 337 

tering into the business. The counties on the Hudson 
might soon give employment to more than one steam-boat 
in conveying it to market ; and the advantages of such an 
arrangement would amply repay the expense. This plan, 
indeed, is already seriously contemplated in Connecticut, 
and will probably be carried into effect. 

The idea of bringing milk from a distance, is not an 
untried experiment. Many pioneers in the work have 
tested its practicability, and prepared the way for future 
success. For more than three years past it has been 
brought by Messrs. Husted and Mead from Connecticut in 
excellent condition, alternately by wagons and steam-boat, 
without a failure. The milk is placed in large canisters, 
nicely fitted to a square box. In hot weather, the inter- 
stices are packed with ice, and a similar precaution would 
be sufficient to protect it against the greatest heat. The 
city of Boston is also largely supplied from Worcester, 
forty miles distant. The system having been in operation 
several years, has been subjected to a fair trial ; and though 
but five cents a quart is paid for the milk, the result is 
highly satisfactory to all engaged in the business. Many, 
we learn, are there making arrangements for very exten- 
sive operations. 

Addressing practical men, who are accustomed to the 
management of dairies, it is not necessary to enter more 
fully into particulars. The present design, is merely to 
exhibit such an outline, as will afford a general view of 
the subject. No prudent man will embark in the business, 
without minute and accurate information. To such an ex- 
amination of the subject you are now invited ; and it is 
confidently believed, that the more attentively it is con- 
sidered, the more attractive it will appear. The present 
slop-milk system must sink. It is too iniquitous and de- 

29 



338 APPEAL TO FARMERS. 

structive to be endured. The vicinity of the city of New- 
York, for thirty years past, has not been adequate to sup- 
ply the inhabitants with pure milk, and the means of do- 
ing it, are constantly diminishing. Natural food, pure air, 
and exercise for cows might be furnished, it is believed, to 
a much greater extent than is now attempted ; but nothing 
that is here possessed can successfully compete with your 
superior natural advantages. Bring then the produce of 
your luxuriant pastures to this market. Patronage is cer- 
tain. By proper exertions any desirable number of cus- 
tomers can be obtained. Conduct your operations on up- 
right and honorable principles, and you cannot fail to se- 
cure rich returns for yourselves, and confer inestimable 
benefits upon a population of more than three hundred 
thousand souls. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FACTS AND ESTIMATES. 

Preliminary remarks — Basis of an estimate. — Consumption of grain 
by distillation. — A perversion of the bounties of Providence. — Ef- 
fects of distillation on the price of bread-stuffs. — Annual product 
of spirit, and cost to the consumer. — Cost of intemperance.— Tax 
on real estate. — Demoralizing effects of intemperance. — The triple 
league. — Responsibility of magistrates, and of the people. — Con- 
cluding observations. 

The remarks in the preceding chapter chiefly tended to 
prove the responsibilities of the consumer of slop-milk, in 
supporting a system which is destructrive to health and life. 
And though a volume would scarcely suffice to present all 
that might be written on that topic alone, enough has proba- 
bly been said to settle all doubt on that question for ever ; 
and also to convince the most incredulous, that the evil de- 
plored is too deep-seated and wide-spread ever to effect its 
own cure. Such being the facts, the work of reform must 
be the result of united, vigorous, and decided action. 
This, and this only, will remove the burden, the disgrace, 
and the curse, which this monstrous combination of igno- 
rance, imposture and cupidity, has so long inflicted upon 
us. 

In the foregoing remarks, however, allusion has only 
been incidentally made to the demoralizing influences of 
the system, and the pecuniary tax it imposes upon the 
community. And as this is not the least important branch 
of the inquiry, it deserves a more thorough investigation 
and exposure than it has yet received, in order that those 
who sustain the business of distillation by encouraging the 
production of impure milk, may clearly perceive the ex? 



340 BASIS OF AN ESTIMATE. 

tent of their responsibilities in relation to the entire system. 
The whole subject is fraught with the deepest interest, and 
should receive the most candid and careful consideration. 
No earthly objects can engage the attention, of greater im- 
portance, than health, life, property and morals. And if 
we look carefully at the agencies employed to give de- 
struction its perfect work, it will appear that the people 
are first famished by the distiller, and then tortured to death 
by the venders of strong drink and impure milk. 

By repeated experiments it is ascertained that a family 
often persons, containing an equal number of children and 
adults, do not require for their support more than twelve and 
a half pounds of bread per day. This will give an average 
of twenty-six ounces to each adult, and fourteen ounces to 
each child, — the United States' army ration for each man 
a day, is eighteen ounces of bread, and either twenty 
ounces of beef or three fourths of a pound of pork, but no 
vegetables. The above calculation therefore for a family, 
with other substantial articles of food, is a liberal one, and 
may be safely assumed as the basis of our estimates. It 
is also known that flour in the process of baking gains from 
twenty to twenty-five per cent., so that ten pounds of flour 
are equal to about twelve and a half pounds of bread. 

The cities of New- York and Brooklyn, and the village 
of Williamsburgh, according to the last census, contain a 
population of three hundred thousand souls.* This num- 
ber of persons, on the foregoing estimates, would daily con- 
sume one thousand Jive hundred and thirty barrels of flour, 
or seven thousand six hundred and fifty bushels of grain ; 

* It may be proper to state that such was the fact when the above 
was written. Since that period the population has increased and 
anoth?r census has been taken; but as the results educed are not 
thereby materially affected, it was not considered important to 
change the basis of the estimates. 



DESTRUCTION OF BREAD-STUFFS. 341 

and in one year, five hundred and fifty-eight thousand, 

FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY BARRELS of flour, Or in grain TWO 
MILLIONS SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-TWO THOUSAND TWO 

hundred and fifty bushels. Now it is estimated, by per- 
sons whose business gives them the best means of judging, 
that the distilleries and breweries in the places above men- 
tioned, yearly consume at least two millions four hundred 
thousand bushels of corn and rye. But admit that two 
millions of bushels are thus consumed, and, astoundino- as 
is the fact, it appears that the distilleries and breweries 
of this city and vicinity destroy nearly as much grain 
created for purposes of sustenance, as would suffice for the 
support of the entire population. 

If so much grain was thrown into the sea by the 
authority of law, and the people were taxed two millions 
of dollars to pay the loss, where is the man who would not 
resist such high-handed oppression ? But such a burden 
would be light, and such a waste a blessing, compared 
•with the evils we now suffer by this sinful perversion of 
the bounties of Providence. Better, infinitely better, that 
this grain be sunk in the ocean, than converted into a 
liquid poison to paralyze the energies, waste the resources, 
and destroy the health and morals of the community. 

There are doubtless other general causes which in 
some degree influence exorbitant prices ; but how is it 
possible, when the supply is limited, that this enormous de- 
mand will not specially affect them % Who can doubt that 
if the millions of bushels of grain which have been de-» 
stroyed during the year could now be thrown into the mar- 
ket, flour would be greatly reduced in price, and other 
kinds of grain in equal ratio 1 In England, when bread- 
stuffs, either by the failure of the crops or other causes, rise 
to a certain valuation, the distillation of grain is forbidden, 

29* 



342 DESTRUCTION OF BREAD-STUFFS. 

under severe penalties. Every dealer in the article knows 
that the price of flour is modified by the state of the mar- 
ket with regard to corn and rye. But in this country 
where there is no law against this merciless waste, the 
fires of the distillery must be kept up, though they con- 
sume the bread of widows and orphans, though the staff 
of life is converted into a stream of death, and pauperism, 
and crime, and wretchedness, and despair are spread 
through all the laboring classes of the community. Yes, 
let who will suffer, the distilleries must be kept in operation ; 
and the demand thus created beyond the consumption of 
the people, and the produce of our own country, actually 
regulates in the market the price of bread-stuffs. Attract- 
ed by high prices, a few years since, there were large im- 
portations of grain into the country from England, from 
the shores of the Black Sea, from the banks of the Dnieper, 
and other parts of Europe. But the abundance these sup- 
plies were calculated to produce, was prevented by the 
rapacity of the distiller. A baker in extensive business 
informed the author, that in negotiating for a quantity of 
foreign rye, it was placed out of his reach by a distiller, 
who paid the extraordinary price of one dollar and seventy- 
five cents a bushel, though the original cost, besides the 
charges of importation, was not probably more than thirty 
cents a bushel. And a merchant, who imported one hun- 
dred thousand bushels of rye, sold it to the distillers at a 
profit of sixty thousand dollars ! Thus is the last hope of 
the mechanic and laboring man, in times of scarcity, ex- 
tinguished by the distiller. The rich are not, perhaps, much 
affected by it. The pauper, being fed by the hand of 
charity, is not affected by this state of things. It is the 
working men, the industrious, producing classes, who 
are the greatest sufferers. And where, under such circum- 



DISTILLATION. 343 

stances, is there any rational prospect of relief, so long as 
men prosecute the iniquitous business of distillation with- 
out restriction, and thus fatten on the spoils of an injured 
community 1 

But there is another view of the subject. Two mil- 
lions of bushels of grain, at the usual average product of 
four gallons of spirits to the bushel, would be eight mil- 
lions of gallons.* This quantity, with the addition of wa- 
ter, by the venders, would at the lowest estimate raise it to 
ten millions of gallons. And being prepared and sold, as 
is the practice, under the disguise and name of every other 
kind of liquor in the market, must cost the consumers at 
least ten millions of dollars, exclusive of malt liquors. 
And for this horrible waste of human subsistence and trea- 
sure, there is no reciprocity or interchange of commodi- 
ties by which both parties are benefitted and the commu- 
nity enriched. On the contrary, it is a total loss to the 
world ; and so far as this loss can be retrieved, the labor- 
ing men, who are the real producers, must be taxed to pay 
for it. The farmer, it is true, may receive a high price for 
his grain ; and the distiller, the rectifier, the vender of the 
liquor, and the slopmen, realize their profits. But the 
consumer loses the whole. He receives in no imaginable 
way an equivalent for his money. The liquor neither 
feeds nor clothes him ; it neither ministers to the present 
necessities of his nature, nor provides for his future wants. 
Besides, therefore, the entire loss of so much treasure to 
the world, in order to complete the estimate, there should 
be superadded the impaired industry and ability of the con- 
sumer to labor, and the poverty, and crimes, and wretched- 

* The amount has diminished since the above computation was 
made. The actual quantity of spirits and beer annually produced, 
according to the returns of 1810, is 7,524,078 gallons. 



344 ESTIMATED LOSS. 

ness, and final ruin of which intoxicating liquors are at 
once the element and incentive; but the sum of these is 
absolutely overwhelming, and beyond the powers of arith- 
metic to compute. 

It is not our design to attempt a delineation of the 
woes of intemperance, for this would be foreign to our ob- 
ject, and are already known by every intelligent man to be 
great beyond description ; nor yet to obtrude individual 
views and speculations upon the attention of the reader, as 
these, however honest, might still be incorrect and incon- 
clusive. But in order to exhibit one aspect of the evil un- 
der consideration, and the expense incurred by it, we will 
state, from the Annual Report of the Comptroller of the 
city of New-York, the cost of pauperism and crime in this 
city with the year ending the 31st of December, 1837. 
It is an established fact, that at least three fourths of the 
cases of pauperism and three fourths of the offences against 
the laws, are directly or indirectly owing to strong 
drink. 

Value of city property in the Alms-house, Halls of 
Justice, and Bridewell, in 1837, $1,500,000, which 
at 7 per cent, interest per annum, would yield $105,000 00 
Expenses of the city during the year, under the 
following heads of account : 

Alms-house, 279,999 12 

Courts, 34,831 78 

Charities, 6,100 00 

Hall of Justice, 47,817 20 

House of Detention, Harlem, . . . . 1,119 76 

House of Refuge, 15,600 00 

Justices' Courts, 15,200 00 

Lunatic Asylum, 47,209 50 

Police, 33,724 23 

Salaries, 57,427 25 

644,028 84 



TAXES AND CRIMES. 345 

Three fourths of this enormous expenditure being charge- 
able to intoxicating drinks, is four hundred and eighty- 
three thousand twenty-one dollars and sixty-three cents. 
Add one hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and 
ninety-one dollars and ninety-three cents, half the yearly 
expense of the city watch, and the grand total is six hun- 
dred AND THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY- THREE 
DOLLARS AND FIFTY-FIVE CENTS. 

The city tax the preceding year, was eight hundred 
and ninety-six thousand dollars. Of course nearly, two 
thirds of this sum, or more than sixty-three per cent, paid as 
tax, was expended to undo, as far as money could avail, 
the mischiefs inflicted on the community, by those who 
make and sell intoxicating liquors for their own exclusive 
benefit. 

Taxes on real estate in this city, have nearly doubled 
within the last eight years. Rents, until the recent de- 
pression, have risen at the same rate. But where falls the 
burden 1 Every foot of land, and every tenement, are 
virtually mortgaged to the Corporation for the security of 
taxes. But who pays them ? Certainly not the drunk- 
ards, the paupers, and felons ; for themselves and families, 
to a great extent, are supported by private or public 
charity. Not the landlords, who make the increase of 
taxes one of the standing pretexts for advancing rents 
every year. But the tenants — the tenants pay them ; and 
the weight falls most oppressively on those least able to 
sustain it. And this is one of the indirect ways in which 
the toil and sweat of mechanics and laboring men are tax- 
ed, to support the crimes and wretchedness caused by dis- 
tilleries and liquor stores. 

These are some of the burdens imposed on us by the 
conversion of bread stuffs into intoxicating liquors, and 



346 TAXES AND CRIMES. 

the licensing of so many thousand shops to diffuse the in- 
sidious and fatal poison through the community. When 
there is a failure of the crops through drought or other 
causes, could the grain which is destroyed by distillation 
be thrown into the market, the price of flour would never 
rise above a fair valuation. But the pecuniary loss forms 
the least important part of the evil. The official reports of 
the police and pauper establishments show, that twenty- 
five thousand persons every year are plunged into vice and 
wretchedness by intemperance. And these, it should be 
borne in mind, refer only to the extreme cases in the scale 
of drunkenness — to the vagrants, the paupers and felons, 
who have appealed to public charity ; and who have offend- 
ed against the peace and good order of society. And appal- 
ling as is the number, how few are they compared with 
those who are aided by private benevolence, and the vast 
multitude of drinkers who resort by day and by night to the 
numerous dram shops which are open for their reception ! 
But it should not be forgotten that the consumer, 
whether of strong liquors or of milk produced from the 
dregs of whisky, in connection with the distiller and ven- 
der, is one of the triple league in this work of destruction ; 
and though last named, he is not the least important partner j 
for upon his connection with the business, depends its con- 
tinuance. It is clear, that the producing and selling of these 
articles must cease, when men refuse to buy and use them. 
The consumer, therefore, is responsible with the maker and 
vender. He it is that kindles up the fires of the distillery, 
patronizes the rum-seller and the impure milk vender, and 
perpetuates the evils which flow from these occupations. 
For his own safety, therefore, and for the benefit of his suffer- 
ing fellow-creatures, he is in duty bound to abstain from all 
such use. There is neither consistency nor common sense 



THE TRirLE LEAGUE. 347 

in any other course. He is really an accessory, and, with 
the distiller and vender, is held amenable at the bar of 
public opinion, and at the tribunal of his own conscience 
and of God, for the mighty accumulation of evils, which 
but for his co-operation and agency, must soon cease to 
exist. 

Here then is the point, where the work of reformation 
must begin. As honest men, w r e must ourselves have pure 
consciences and clean hands, before we can reasonably ex- 
pect a removal, or even a mitigation of the evils of which 
we complain. And in endeavoring to extend the work 
of reform to others, it should only be attempted by per- 
suasive appeals, and by kind and conciliating measures. 
All violent means must be most carefully avoided ; for 
besides their criminality, they necessarily defeat their own 
object. We live under a government of laws, and every 
act of disrespect for the laws will unite good men in the 
support of them, and fix the seal of public reprobation on 
every unlawful encroachment upon the legal rights of 
others. The object of all law is the well being of the 
people ; and if certain laws, as a necessary consequence, 
operate unequally and disastrously ; if they promote 
pauperism, diminish wealth, encourage corruption, and 
tend to the injury of the health and morals of the people, 
it is evident there is a departure from first principles, 
and a culpable error in legislation, which, however diffi- 
cult it may be, should be retraced. That such are the 
revolting effects of the license laws as generally adminis- 
tered, and that they are susceptible of such perversions, 
there is, in their history, the most conclusive evidence. 
But public men who execute the laws, it should be borne 
in mind, are the servants of the public, and censure is of- 
ten cast upon them, which justly belongs to the people 



348 THE REMEDY. 

who put them in office. They cannot correct existing 
abuses without the consent of the people. Nor is it to be 
expected that they will generally have the moral courage 
to risk their popularity and loss of office by opposing the 
habits, and appetites, and prejudices, and the real or sup- 
posed interests of their constituents. The restrictive sys- 
tem of the license laws is thus too generally a dead letter, 
and ever will be, until the virtue of the people will sup- 
port a virtuous and efficient magistracy, or until the licen- 
sing power is placed beyond the bias of party or personal 
influences. 

The remedy, therefore, is in the hands of the people. 
When their opinions and practices demand it, the existing 
evils will be corrected. They are the only legitimate 
source of power ; and it were vain to expect that the 
streams will rise higher than the fountain. In this 
crisis we are called to act as did our patriotic fathers in 
their struggle for independence. When by an arbitrary 
stretch of power their pleasant beverage was taxed, they 
resolutely gave it up, rather than suffer the smallest en- 
croachment upon their rights. But what was the tax upon 
tea, compared with the tax which this hydra-headed alliance 
imposes upon us 1 A mere nothing. There must be total 
and universal abstinence from strong liquors and impure 
milk, and from whatever is produced by the distilleries, or 
their fires will never be put out, and the still-slop nuisances 
never be abated. We see no relief, but in the entire preva- 
lence of temperance principles. 



To conclude. Allured on by the attractions of the sub- 
ject, the essay has imperceptibly reached a point, beyond 
which, the limit the Author had assigned it will not permit 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 349 

him to advance. He has already far exceeded the bounds of 
his original design : but considering the novelty and the in- 
terest of many of the topics brought under review, he trusts 
that he has neither gone too far, nor attempted too much. In 
many particulars, being obliged to rely chiefly upon his 
own observations and inductions, he will be peculiarly 
fortunate, if in no instance he has misapprehended 
facts or been betrayed into mistakes. But even these he 
will scarcely regret, if other minds are thereby drawn to 
such investigations as will add to the stock of well ascer- 
tained facts, and lead to a thorough, practical knowledge of 
this important but hitherto neglected subject. 

But if mistakes have occurred, they are probably in- 
ferential ; and as truth cannot be invalidated by incorrect 
inferences, it does not thence follow that the main posi- 
tions advanced, and in which the public has the greatest 
interest, are thereby affected. The question of fact in re- 
lation to fundamental principles, being as fully in accord- 
ance with the known laws of the animal economy as veri- 
fied by familiar experience, he considers these principles 
too firmly established to admit of dispute. The entire 
system of dairy management impugned, has sufficiently de- 
veloped itself to show that it is an unpalliated enormity, and 
utterly incapable of vindication. If this fact is indisputa- 
ble, though some others are less accurately understood, it 
were to question the benignity of Providence, and libel hu- 
man nature to doubt that, with the disclosures of time, it 
is destined to receive, from an indignant public sentiment, 
the execration it deserves. 

In some subordinate particulars, as for example, the 
exact nature, extent, and effects of impure milk on health, 
our knowledge is doubtless less perfect than of leading 
principles; and this is only what might be expected in the 

30 



350 CONCLUSION. 

incipient stages of an investigation, when information is 
necessarily both limited and defective. Such must ever 
be the case, when, as in the present inquiry, the only way 
to truth is by the observance of facts ; for anterior to expe- 
rience, analysis or chemical laws can never determine the 
effect of substances on the tissues of the living body. Our 
acquaintance consequently with details, can only become 
clear and definite, as facts, which are the result of careful 
and extensive observation, shall throw their light upon 
the subject. 

Whilst the inquiry, therefore, especially invites the at- 
tention of medical men, from whom, as the constituted 
guardians of public health, much is naturally expected, yet 
neither is our farther knowledge of the subject, nor the extir- 
pation of the evils to which such knowledge refers, neces- 
sarily limited either to their investigations or exertions. 
The whole matter is so accessible to ordinary observation 
and influence, that the humble and unpretending may con- 
tribute to the stock of information, and aid in consummating 
the anticipated reform. All, indeed, who desire and expect 
the ultimate removal of the woes which afflict and debase 
the world, by their alliance with others for the extermina- 
tion of this flagitious form of evil, will assuredly advance 
not only their own immediate good and that of the commu- 
nity around them, but happily become instrumental in pre- 
paring the way for the advent of that promised era of 
primeval purity and peace, so long foretold in prophecy, 
and invoked in sacred song. 



APPENDIX. 



The following letter from the Honorable Samuel Ste- 
vens, not being received in time to be inserted in its ap- 
propriate place, as it contains suggestions which appear 
too valuable to be omitted, it is here introduced. 

TO R. M. HARTLEY, ESQ.. 

New-York, December 30, 1841. 

Dear Sir : 

The time you loaned me the sheets of your " Work on 
Milk," has only allowed me cursorily to peruse them ; and 
although, when I commenced doing so, I confess I did not 
see how you would extend your subject so as to make so 
considerable a volume, I am now convinced that the subject 
should excite in our city, at least, great and universal at- 
tention. 

To so much of your subject as relates to the incredible 
mortality of children in our city under five years, my atten- 
tion was long since called when a member of the Common 
Council ; and with a view to more correct statements on 
this subject, I spent considerable time in maturing a plan 
for the registration of births.— We have now only state- 
ments, showing an approximate result, of infantile mortal- 



352 APPENDIX. 

ity— that is, we can now only compare the mortality of 
children with the mortality of the whole population of the 
city. 

The difficulty in carrying out any plan of registration, 
was so great that I could not digest one which appeared 
practicable, although on various humane accounts it was 
very much to be desired, particularly with a view to judge 
and determine if the infanticides occurring in our city did 
not justify the establishment of a Foundling Hospital, 
even at the hazard of encouraging crime of a less heinous 
character. 

This was nearly twenty years ago ; and your tables now 
disclose the wonderful fact, that, as compared with the 
deaths of adults, the deaths of children under five years 
have since that time nearly doubled. 

I know no cause to attribute this to, unless that brought 
before the public by the temperance reformation, (and 
now so fully and amply discussed by yourself,) deleterious 
milk. 

Parents should ponder on the truths told them in your 
treatise, and should awaken to the unusual hazard of life, 
(heretofore, entirely, as far as I am informed, unaccounted 
for,) in which their offspring live, far exceeding that of 
London or Paris, and while too, adults in our city live 
longer and are not so liable to death as those of the Euro- 
pean cities. 

Your position, that bad milk is the cause, is rendered 
the more probable by the universal opinion, that children 
almost immediately recover from sickness when removed 
to the country, and again by the opinion that the second is 
the trying year. Then it is that this deleterious milk is 
the general food of the infant, the quality of which is en- 
tirely changed when infants leave the city. 



APPENDIX. 



353 



There is one subject, not foreign from the object and 
design of your work, which I beg to allude to. You pre- 
sent the evil in bold relief, relying on the consciences and 
duty of all our citizens, to apply the remedy, and to refrain 
from purchasing distillery milk. Now this is a work of 
time and difficulty. The remedy I fear can only be com- 
pletely effected, by the humane adopting some plan, by 
which wholesome milk can be had at a cheap rate. 

I am aware that rail-roads and steam-boats will assist 
to bring good milk to the city ; but we shall probably al- 
ways have extensive stables of milch cows, in and near 
our city. 

My suggestion is to encourage the manufacture of 
sugar from the beet-root. The books assert that seventy 
tons have been raised from an acre. The " Cultivator" 
states 2500 bushels as having been raised on the acre. 

Our country is admirably suited to the cultivation of 
this vegetable, which yields ten per cent, of sugar, under 
the best process of manufacture. 

The residuum is left in cakes, not dissimilar from the 
flaxseed cake, pressed by steam power, and is said to be, 
and I have no doubt is, an excellent food for milch cows, 
and being in cakes, is convenient for transportation. 

Tn France a very large quantity of sugar is manufac- 
tured, and so successful has been the manufactory that a 
duty has either been imposed on the making of sugar, or it 
has been proposed in the Chamber of Deputies. 

This manufacture was a favorite of Buonaparte's, as 
rendering France more independent ; but his subjects laugh- 
ed at him, in caricature representing his son sucking a 
beet-root, with the words," Father says there is sugar in it." 
The result shows the foresight of Napoleon. 

The manufacture of this article can be commenced and 
30* 



354 APPENDIX. 

now carried on with little loss, and probably before long 
may be sustained with profit. 

It would not only help to give good milk, but would 
afford employment to northern laborers, and would, so far 
as it succeeded, diminish the necessity of increased labor in 
the cultivation of the sugar-cane, which it is urged will (or 
can only) be cultivated by slaves. 

Wishing that society may realize all the good which 
you anticipate, and that your work may have general cir- 
culation, 

I remain, respectfully, your ob't serv't, 

SAMUEL STEVENS, 
No. 42 Warren-street. 

The value of the sugar-beet root (beta vulgaris) as food 
for dairy cows, is most probably not overrated by Mr. 
Stevens, and his suggestions, we trust, will receive as they 
deserve the attention of the producers of milk and other 
practical men. The beet when eaten freely is said to be 
injurious to the human stomach, but we have not heard 
this objection urged against it as food for ruminant animals. 
But being unacquainted with the particular condition in 
which the residuum of the root is fed, and also of the qua- 
lity of the milk thereby produced, we are incompetent 
from personal knowledge to express an opinion on the sub- 
ject. As the saccharine principle of this succulent vegeta- 
ble constitutes, however, but a little more than one half of 
its nutritive properties, we may safely infer that, in con- 
nection with a suitable proportion of gramineous food, it 
will be found both healthy and nourishing. To show that 
these conclusions are fully sustained by experiment, and 
therefore deserve the serious consideration of dairymen, we 
subjoin an extract from a communication on the subject by 



APPENDIX. 355 

an intelligent correspondent of one of our public jour- 
nals. 

" Within the last two or three years," he remarks, " the 
attention of the public has been frequently called to the 
very impure, and almost poisonous article of distillery slop- 
milk, which forms the principal supply of New- York and 
Brooklyn. My object is to suggest a substitute for the 
present mode of feeding milch cows, which will not only 
be less expensive to the producer, but will furnish the con- 
sumer with a rich, pure, and wholesome article; and 
which is quite within the power of every dairyman occupy- 
ing one acre of land for every three cows. I refer to the 
cultivation of the sugar-beet for feed during six or eight 
months of the year. When beets are planted early, they 
are ready for feeding by the middle of August, and may be 
continued until the middle of May, when proper means are 
taken to preserve the roots, by which time the first crop of 
lucerne, rye, or other green food, may be cut for feeding. 

" In order to make the excellence of this substitute ap- 
parent, let us first see what is the character and quality of 
the sugar-beet, as food for milch cows. Mr. Chaptal, the 
author of a very valuable work on agriculture, and who 
cultivated the beet twelve or fifteen years for the purpose 
of making sugar, says of the pulp or residuum, which con- 
tains little more than one half of the nutritive principle of 
the beet, ' this is most excellent food for cattle ; cows and 
sheep that are fed upon it, give large quantities of milk.' 
D. L. Child, Esq., who has recently written a work on the 
culture of the sugar-beet, after a residence of eighteen 
months in the sugar districts of France, says : ' In France, 
extensive as is the culture of the beet for making sugar, it 
is still greater for forage. It is particularly valuable for 
milch cows, improving their milk, both in quality and 



356 



APPENDIX. 



quantity, and imparting a richer and finer flavor to the 
butter.' 

" Mr. Josiah Lee, an enterprising farmer of Berks 
county, Pennsylvania, fed his cows upon it without any 
grain, and the butter produced was of a very superior qua- 
lity. The writer of this has also been testing the experi- 
ment, with the most satisfactory result. By referring to the 
agricultural journals of the day, hundreds of similar results 
might be adduced. 

" All the authorities agree with regard to the beneficial 
effect of the beet culture upon the soil. Mr. Child says, 
that ' the beet culture, and the beet sugar manufacture, in- 
crease manure, and fertilize the farms in a manner unpa- 
ralleled by any art, contrivance or discovery in the whole 
history of agriculture.' To confirm this, he cites the tes- 
timony of a large number of beet growers and manufacturers 
in France, taken before a committee of the Chamber of 
Deputies in 1837. 

" And now to arrive at the economy of feeding upon 
the beet, let us look at the amount of production. James 
Pedder, Esq., in the very able report of his visit to the 
sugar districts of France, estimates the average produce of 
the beet under good culture, at forty thousand pounds per 
acre. Messrs. Chaptal and Child, to whom we have be- 
fore referred, calculate the average production a little short 
of this, say about thirty-five thousand pounds. We have 
had numerous experiments in our country which far ex- 
ceed these. Mr. J. Lee, of Pa., before mentioned, raised 
one hundred and forty bushels from less than one-eighth of 
an acre, being eleven hundred aDd twenty bushels to the 
acre. The Hon. Ellis Lewis, of Lycoming county, Pa., 
has raised during the past year upwards of thirteen 
hundred bushels to the acre. J. Kenworthy, of Oxford, 



APPENDIX. 357 

Philadelphia county, raised the past season at the rate of 
seventy-one thousand nine hundred and fifty-nine pounds 
to the acre ; — and lastly, the writer of this has produced 
fifty-three thousand pounds from seven-eighths of an acre. 
The beet is estimated to weigh from fifty -six to sixty pounds 
per bushel, making the average of all these results, some- 
thing more than one thousand bushels per acre. Thirty 
pounds, or half a bushel per day, with the appropriate 
quantity of hay which should be used in slop-feeding, 
would be sufficient feed for a cow. But to be certain in 
our estimate, we will base it on half this product, say five 
hundred bushels, making the produce of one-fourth of an 
acre, or one hundred and twenty-five bushels, the food for 
one cow, for a period of eight months. 

" And now for the cost of the 'production. Messrs. 
Chaptal and Pedder state, that beets are sold to the manu- 
facturers in France, at ten francs per one thousand pounds, 
which is about eleven cents per bushel, and that this price 
gives very large profits to the grower. The actual cost of 
raising, according to Mr. Pedder, being little more than 
three cents per bushel. Mr. Child states the price at from 
three dollars and fifty cents, to three dollars and seventy 
five cents per ton, which is still less ; and the highest esti- 
mate that I have seen in our agricultural periodicals, of the 
cost of raising sugar-beets, is forty-two dollars per acre, 
including rent, manure, seed, etc. The writer produced 
them the past season in Illinois, where manure was not 
wanted, at a cost of less than two cents per bushel. But 
assuming forty dollars to be the average cost per acre, 
which at the very low estimate before made of five hundred 
bushels to the acre, makes the whole cost of growing them 
eight cents per bushel, or four cents per day for the feed 
of one cow, instead of the usual quantity of one barrel of 



358 APPENDIX. 

still-slop at nine cents. But to this must be added the cost 
of transportation, which at the average distance of a mile 
and a half, cannot be less than five cents per barrel, ma- 
king fourteen cents per day for this very deleterious food, 
instead of four cents only per day for the nutritious and 
healthy food of the sugar-beet." 

As it is not our design to enlarge on these statements 
and estimates, we only remark, that they afford additional 
proof that the continuance of the impure milk system, with 
its train of abominations, is as manifestly unnecessary, as 
it is destructive and iniquitous. It is indisputable that 
remedial provisions are at hand, and may be readily made 
available. We owe it, therefore, to our children — to the 
common welfare — to the progress of humanity — and above 
all, we owe it to Him whose benignant providence has in 
so many ways supplied the means of correcting the evil, 
that our exertions relax not but with its extermination. 






THE END. 



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